Whales teach how to clean: biomimetic's example

Baleen Filter technology is an example of biomimetic engineering. This is an adaptation of the technique used by filter-feeding whales to keep their baleen clean and free of debris. The baleen is the filter mechanism that allows the whale to collect and filter plankton, small fish and other marine organisms from the water during feeding.

Unique Filtering Process
The Baleen filter technology, is based on a simple, yet ingenious ‘double-act’ of high pressure, low volume sprays, one of which dislodges material caught by the filter screen media, while the other sweeps it away for collection. As water flows through the filter, substances initially suspended in the water are left behind by the filtrate, but before they are allowed to accumulate and blind the filter’s screen, the ‘double-act’ effects their removal from the filtering zone thereby sustaining the filtering process.

The principles of operation rely upon the response of particle (and droplet) dynamics to fluid flow within a nonpressurised, open system. Continued reliability of the Baleen filtering process is achieved by ‘state-of-the-art’ process control to ensure trouble-free coarse screening to 250-micron, micro-screening to less than 100-micron and microfiltration to less than 5-micron (when using chemical assistance). The Baleen filter is especially effective in water treatment approaches where waterborne materials were previously regarded as problematic to conventional screening and filtration processes. This mechanism allows industrial wastewater with higher pollutant loads to be filtered than was previously possible with conventional industrial filters.

The Baleen filter is a highly efficient, non-pressurised self-cleaning separation technology that achieves reliable filtration to 25 microns without chemical assistance. It offers significant cost and environmental benefits.
The company Baleen Filters was established in 1999 after a four-year industrially applied research and development program from the University of South Australia. Yuri Obst was the originator of the idea and is now Managing Director of Baleen Filter.

This can be used in the following industries: Food Processing, Beverage :Wine Industry, Meat & Livestock: Pig Industry, Fruit & Vegetable Packing: Carrots, Dried Fruit, Transport: Truckwash

For more details see the brochure of company: http://www.baleenfilters.com/pdf/Technology_Brief.pdf

Process video: http://www.baleenfilters.com/product_movie_qt.asp