TM-MEDIA

Description Of A New Technology

The heart of this technology is a new filter media designed to absorb high molecular weight, low solubility organic compounds (ie. Oil, grease, pentachlorophenols, PCB’S). This media also efficiently breaks and removes mechanically emulsified organic. It is derived from a chemical modification of smectite clays.

The media absorbs organic through a partitioning phenomenon. The organic will preferentially partition out of the aqueous phase and into the organic phase, between clay platelets. Once they are absorbed, the organic are tightly bound.

As more organic are absorbed, the clay platelets will spread further and further apart, creating space to absorb more organic (see figure 1). The swelling is strictly a function of the absorption of organic molecules, not water. For this reason, TM-Media has a tremendous absorptive capacity, 6-10 times greater than that of activated carbon. In general, you can expect a 90 - 95 % removal rate for oil and grease.

The unique characteristics of the media can also be used to mechanically stop the flow of contaminated liquid, thus eliminating the possibility of environmental contamination in the case of a large spill.