Liquid Filter Testing and Evaluation
June 10, 2025,Tuesday
8:00 AM – 10:00 AM ET, USA
$USD 350
$USD 175 (Member Only )
Course Objective
This course is designed especially for liquid filter product evaluation and industrial standard test methods. It provides a comprehensive introduction to various liquid filtration testing, covering testing methods, standards, and the equipment or instruments used. The course will include filter test techniques and standards for water, fuel, lube oil, hydraulic fluids, and more. Additionally, particle characteristics, efficiency methods, and ratings will be reviewed. The panel will discuss new standard updates, opportunities, and trends.
Course Outline
1.Introduction: Liquid Filtration System
2.Contamination: Type and Characteristics
3.Filter Media Types, Properties and Testing
4.Filter Element Performance Testing and Standards
5.New Developments in Filter Element Testing
6. New updatess, Trends, and Opportunities (Panel Discussion)
Flat Sheet Testing for Water and Coolant Filtration (Mr. Al Vatine)
Upgrading of the Existing Standards to Qualify Nano and Microfiltration Water Filter Cartridges (Dr Nicolas PETILLON)
Panel Discussion and Q&A
Instructor Biography
Dr. Swarna Agarwal
Instructor
Dr. Swarna Agarwal is Senior Material Scientist at PTI Technologies. At PTI she is responsible for all the liquid, air and fuel cell filter product development for aviation industry. Prior to this, she was Engineering Manager for filtration media R&D at Parker Hannifin, Engine and Mobile Original Equipment Division, USA. At Parker she was responsible for R&D for diesel fuel, hydraulic nand H2 fuel-cell filters. While working at Parker she has developed more than 50 new products and improved the R&D technology and capabilities to an advanced level. Prior to Parker, she worked as a filtration scientist at UCLA, Water Planet Inc. Los Angeles and ITV Denkendorf Germany. She has over 18 years of academic and industrial experience in new product development for various filtration applications, nonwovens manufacturing, nanotechnology and surface functionalization. She is an expert for coalescence through porous media, emulsion formation, characterization and separation, interfacial and wetting science, bio-inspired textiles, medical textiles, and project management She received the AFS Senior Scientist Award in 2018, Parker Inventor appreciation Award 2021, WFI product of the Year Award 2021. She has over 30 publications, one book and 3 patents. Dr. Agarwal received her PhD from University of Stuttgart, Germany.
Dr. ing Nicolas PETILLON
Panelist
Dr. ing Nicolas PETILLON is the CTO of IFTS (Institut de la Filtration et des Techniques Séparatives) in France. He has over 25 years of experience in liquid filtration testing and over 10 years of experience in cleanliness expertise. He serves as Convenor and expert at ISO committee, such as ISO TC 70/SC7; ISO TC 22/SC34; ISO TC 131/SC6. He worked as as an assistant professor at the University of CAEN and a research engineer at SOGEFI FILTRATION in the past. He gratuated from Chemical engineering, ENSIC – Université de Lorraine (1991) and received his Ph.D. in 1996, Institut National Polytechnique de Lorraine, France.
Mr. Al Vatine
Panelist
Mr. Al Vatine is a globally recognized expert in filtration performance testing with over 35 years of experience. He studied Biology at Macalester College and earned a degree in Pathology from the University of Minnesota. In 1996, he founded LMS Technologies to meet the growing demand for advanced filter testing. Al holds 23 patents in discrete nanofiber technology and has developed methods for generating high-concentration nanoparticles below 5 nm for ultra-fine filtration testing. He is also experienced in microbial test design and creating custom protocols for technologies not yet covered by existing standards.
Panelists
Dr. Wu Chen, R&D Fellow at Dow (retired), USA
Dr. Wu Chen is a recently retired R&D Fellow at Dow. He has 35 years of industrial experience in all areas of solid/liquid separation and air/gas filtration. His experiences include laboratory filtration evaluation, pilot study, full scale installation, startup, production scale operation and trouble shooting. He also has expertise in carbon capture, water management, project management, process design, and plant startup. He has been teaching this course in numerous organizations and countries for 30 years. He is very active in the filtration industry and has been the plenary and keynote speakers in major conferences, served as the chair of the American Filtration and Separation Society (AFS), AFS board of directors, conference chairs, and various committee members. His was awarded AFS Frank Tiller Award for outstanding technical achievements, AFS Well Shoemaker Award for leadership and service to the filtration industry and Fellow Member Award for sustained significant contributions to filtration technologies and filtration industry. In 2024, he received the AFS Lifetime Achievement award which recognized his significant lifetime contribution to the filtration industry.
Mr. Mark Willingham, President, Filtrate Solutions, USA
Mr. Willingham, AFS Fellow, is a High Point, NC - based industrial filtration consultant. He was formerly Vice President of Sales for Purolator Advanced Filtration in Greensboro, NC. There, he led a global team in sales/marketing of industrial filtration products, primarily to Fortune 500 companies in the chemical processing, pharmaceutical, power generation, and oil and gas market segments. He served in various sales management roles at Purolator for 20+ years. Willingham’s career began in the porous metal filter cleaning industry where he was responsible for new business development and developing new cleaning formulas with a focus on cleaning efficicncy, lowest environmental impact, and the safety of cleaning technicians.He is a past Chairman of the American Filtration & Separations Society (2013-2014). Willingham has extensive experience in all areas of sales and marketing management, with a particular focus on new product research and product launches, developing/training/motivating sales teams, value add - based pricing, and incentive compensation plans.
Dr. Christine Sun, President, World Filtration Institute, USA
Dr. Sun is a globally renowned technical and market expert in the filtration and nonwovens industry. With over 30 years of experience in academia and industry, she has in-depth knowledge of filtration and extensive hands-on expertise in product and business development, with over 100 technical publications and patents in the field. She is also actively involved in the development of many air and liquid filter test standards, such as ASHRAE and ISO. Dr. Sun worked for Freudenberg Filtration Technologies from 2004 to 2011 as an R&D manager and then served as Technology Director for Donaldson Company from 2011 to 2013. She was the Chair of the American Filtration and Separation Society (AFS) from 2016 to 2017 and has received the AFS Fellow Award in 2019, the Sr. Scientist Award in 2012, and the best paper awards from INDA (Association of the Nonwoven Fabrics Industry) in 2008. She is also an editorial board member for the Journal of Industrial Textiles. Dr. Sun received her B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from Tsinghua University, Beijing, China, and her Executive Certificate from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, USA.