HOLLOW FIBER MEMBRANE (HFM) MILLION GALLON FILTER CHALLENGE
Braden Olson, Melanie Aroniss, Kyle Margosian, Frederic Warden IV, Nolan Goss
Introduction
Sawyer Life Cycle Study
Last semester, Sawyer filters approached us to test their HFM filters for longevity, more specifically, to see if they will last while one
million gallons is being run through them. These filters will be distributed all over the world to help combat water-born illness due to
improper filtration in villages and need to be able to stand up to the
demanding challenges of filtering dirty water for years. The aim of
this project is to see if the filters can hold up in a clinical setting.
Sawyer, a major water filtration company, would like to see how
well their filters hold up over time for up to one million gallons of filtered water. With their funding, HFM is designing a system that will
test 24 filters simultaneously at a constant pressure of 10psi. The system will run unclean water through for an hour at a time, and then it
will automatically switch to backwashing with clean water for a minute.
This cycle will consistently take place until we have reached one million
gallons per filter.
Client
Tests will be run periodically to determine if the filters are still functional. Our tests will be performed after 50K, 100K, 250K, 500K, 750K,
and 1 million gallons have cycled through, if not more often. The tests
will help determine if we have a broken membrane or if bacteria can
get through.

Sawyer—major manufacturer of filtration products
Future
Data collection
Data collection for this project includes a pressure sensor near the top of the manifold and a flow
meter towards the bottom of the manifold (see right). These two things together allow us to detect
any small changes in each filter tipping us off to a failed filter. The system runs on a one hour schedule where the regular pumping will occur for an hour with data being collected every minute. The
regular pumping system shuts off and the backflush system then takes over for the next minute taking
data points every second. All data collected is put onto an SD card in a .csv file that we import into
excel and see if everything is running as designed.
Test parameters
 10psi on both sides of each filter
 1 hour forward, 1 minute backflush
 Must have water with some turbidity running through
 Biological tests must be run to test if filters are still functional
 Run system until one million gallons are run through, at minimum, one filter
Valve
Pressure regulator
Pressure Sensor
Once this project is fully operational, minimal attention will be needed for data collection and filter testing for the two years it is running. Because of this, a full team
will not be needed just to run the tests and will instead start a new project. Currently we are looking at different options for our team including gravity fed filtration for
a village and continuing work on hollow fiber membrane technology.
Filter
Pressure regulator (not shown)
Flow meter
Valve
Acknowledgements
Conclusions

Dr. Thomas Soerens – Project Advisor

Tony Beers

Messiah College
This team looks forward to seeing how
long the filters will last and hope that they
do last for the full one million gallons per filter. If they do, then it will mean that these
are some of the longest lasting filters on the
market and will help many villages get the
clean water they deserve for a long time.


The HFM Million Gallon Challenge
presentation will be given at
9:40am in Frey 110
John Smith and Kurt Avery, Sawyer
products
Water Testing Team