For more than 50 years, CECO Filters has stood as a premier global innovator in high-efficiency industrial air pollution control and process stream filtration. Specializing in the custom engineering and manufacture of fiber bed mist eliminators—commonly referred to as candle filters or coalescing filters—CECO provides systems designed to capture and eliminate sub-micron liquid aerosols, corrosive mists, oil droplets, and soluble solid particulates from industrial air and process gas streams. By combining specialized mechanical design with premium material science, CECO Filters engineered systems reliably achieve collection efficiencies up to 99.9% on sub-micron particles, safeguarding critical downstream machinery, optimizing product recovery yields, and ensuring absolute environmental compliance.

The operational framework of CECO Filters centers on minimizing industrial lifecycle costs while maximizing pollutant capture. Rather than relying on rigid, off-the-shelf air filtration setups that suffer from rapid blinding and excessive energy consumption, CECO utilizes application-specific modeling to configure the density, fiber type, and bed thickness of each element. This personalized engineering method guarantees a low operating pressure drop, which directly correlates to decreased utility demand on system fan drives, longer continuous filter lifetimes, and reduced maintenance downtime in the most demanding chemical and manufacturing plants worldwide.

For over 25 years, Trotter Equipment Company has partnered with CECO Filters across Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, and West Virginia. Our industrial field engineers fuse CECO’s technical design engineering capabilities with Trotter’s localized field application experience. We work hand-in-hand with regional processing facilities to conduct thorough process evaluation, calculate required filtration footprints, select corrosion-resistant materials, and manage long-term structural maintenance, element repacking, and emergency system troubleshooting.

CECO Mist Elimination & Filtration Technologies

CECO Filters’ product portfolio is built upon advanced mechanical filtration mechanisms designed to handle distinct gas-stream velocities and particulate size distributions. Every system leverages three primary physical principles to remove suspended liquid droplets from process gases: physical direct interception, high-mass inertial impaction, and sub-micron Brownian diffusion capture.

Fiber Bed Mist Eliminators (Candle Filters)

CECO’s flagship fiber bed systems are custom-engineered structures optimized for collecting sub-micron liquid particles down to 0.1 microns or smaller. Suspended elements utilize a dense matrix of tightly wrapped fibers contained within concentric structural cages, transforming fine aerosols into larger liquid droplets that gravity-drain away automatically.

• Diffusion Bed Filters (Low Velocity) — Engineered explicitly for capturing sub-micron particles using Brownian diffusion. Operating at lower face velocities, gas molecules force ultra-fine liquid droplets into erratic pathways, causing them to collide with and coalesce on individual filter fibers. Ideal for eliminating dense, persistent tail-gas plumes and blue-smoke emissions.
• Impaction Bed Filters (High Velocity) — Designed for process streams dominated by larger liquid droplets (typically 1 to 2 microns and greater). Operating at higher face velocities, the forward momentum of the heavy liquid particulates prevents them from following the gas stream around the filter fibers, causing direct structural impact and immediate coalescing.
• FRP, Stainless Steel & Alloy Caging — Structural support cages fabricated from rugged materials chosen to withstand aggressive chemical environments. Structural choices range from 316L Stainless Steel and Carbon Steel to fiberglass-reinforced plastic (FRP), Hastelloy, Carpenter 20, and specialized plastics like Polypropylene or PVDF to prevent accelerated galvanic corrosion.
• Concentric Candle Designs — Available in standard cylindrical designs, including hanging style (downward gas flow) and standing style (upward gas flow), configured to seamlessly replace legacy or OEM elements inside existing separator vessels.

Filter Elements & Coalescing Media Profiles

The core filtration performance of any mist eliminator relies completely on its media composition. CECO develops bespoke formulations of continuous-wound and bulk-packed fibers to match the exact temperature, chemical reactivity, and pressure drop requirements of individual plant operations.

• Chemical-Grade Borosilicate Glass Fibers — The industrial standard for comprehensive mist elimination, delivering exceptional chemical resistance and thermal stability across a broad spectrum of highly acidic gas streams.
• Specialized Fluoropolymer Media (PTFE / Teflon) — Formulated specifically for aggressive processing applications involving hydrofluoric acid, high-strength caustic compounds, or extreme chemical environments where standard silica glass fibers risk rapid degradation and structural collapse.
• Polyester & Polypropylene Fibers — Economical, high-durability media alternatives chosen for non-corrosive or low-temperature industrial processes, compressed air scrubbing, and oil mist removal in power generation applications.
• Co-Knit Wire Mesh Pads — High-porosity pre-filters that combine metal wire with synthetic or glass yarns to capture large bulk droplets ahead of the primary candle filters, balancing line velocities and extending main element service life.

Turnkey Filter Vessels & Housing Assemblies

CECO engineers and builds fully integrated containment vessels to house their high-efficiency filter elements. These ASME-coded structures are designed to ensure smooth, uniform gas distribution across the entire filter bed area, preventing local velocity spiking and premature media saturation.

• Custom Separate Vessels — Heavy-duty horizontal or vertical containment systems built to exact process plant piping alignments, complete with integrated liquid seal loops, rupture discs, structural access manways, and automated differential pressure monitoring arrays.
• Modular Skid-Mounted Packages — Fully plumbed, structural steel skids featuring filter housings, pre-engineered multi-stage drop-out boxes, isolation bypass valves, drain pumps, and integrated instrumentation tables for rapid “plug-and-play” site integration.

Industries & Processes Served

• Sulfuric Acid Manufacturing — Eliminating highly destructive sub-micron acid mists within drying towers, inter-pass absorption towers, and final absorption lines, protecting downstream heat exchangers and gas compressors while meeting strict EPA stack regulations.
• Phosphate Fertilizer Production — Collecting corrosive ammonium nitrate, phosphoric acid, and complex chemical mists generated during chemical reactions and bulk granulation processing.
• Chlor-Alkali & Chlorine Processing — Removing brine aerosols, moisture, and sulfuric acid traces from compressed wet and dry chlorine gas lines, safeguarding downstream process instrumentation and compression hardware.
• Power Generation & Gas Turbines — Capturing sub-micron lube oil venting mists from large steam and gas turbine reservoirs, preventing oil staining on facility structures and stopping indoor air quality hazards.
• Semiconductor & Electronics — High-efficiency treatment of acidic exhaust cleanroom gases, preventing corrosion of sensitive silicon wafer fabrication environments and outdoor duct discharge stacks.
• Asphalt, Roofing & Plastics Fabrication — Capturing heavy hydrocarbon aerosols, plasticizer mists, and dense organic compounds to eliminate visible opacity plumes and “blue smoke” environmental violations.

Services

• Engineering / Design — Comprehensive gas stream flow simulation, custom filter sizing, pressure drop optimization analysis, structural vessel configuration, and retrofit adaptations for aging air pollution control equipment.
• On-Site Filter Element Repacking — Cost-saving maintenance programs to completely strip and repack spent filter elements with fresh borosilicate or fluoropolymer fiber beds, restoring original filtration performance at a fraction of full element replacement costs.
• Performance Audits & Troubleshooting — Differential pressure diagnostics, gas velocity mapping, leak testing, identification of tracking bypass leaks, and root-cause analysis of accelerated element blinding or chemical media breakdown.

PARTS

• Replacement Candle Filter Elements & Coalescing Fiber Beds
• Pre-Formed Glass Fiber & Polypropylene Wrap Mat Blocks
• High-Temperature PTFE & Viton Tube Sheet Gaskets and Seal Rings
• Corrosion-Resistant Gasket Fasteners, Studs, and Compression Washers
• Custom Metal & FRP Core Cages (Hanging and Standing Alignment)
• Liquid Seal Loops, Overflow Drain Pots, and Internal Siphon Tubes
• Co-Knit Wire Mesh Pre-Filter Pads and Demister Panels
• Differential Pressure Transmitters, Gauges, and Purge Line Fittings
• Vessel Access Hatch Seal Rings and O-Rings
• Sub-Assembly Retrofit Hardware Packages for Legacy Filter Upgrades