Compressed Air & Gas Filters

Silicone-Free Filter

Flawless finishes start with clean air: every trace of silicone out, and nothing added back by the filter.

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A white silicone-free filter housing with its differential pressure gauge, element, mounting brackets and drain laid out around it

Product overview

Crater-free paint, from air with nothing to wet it away

A trace of silicone landing on a surface about to be painted leaves a crater: the wet paint flows away from the contaminated spot. Only a molecular layer is needed, invisible to the eye and too small to weigh, so a single droplet in your spray air or a film left by blow-off cleaning is enough.

Our silicone-free filters remove particles, oil and water aerosol and, in the activated carbon stage, oil vapour and siloxanes. Every wetted part, from housing and element to seals, O-ring lubricant and automatic drain, is made, assembled and packed without silicone, so the filter itself releases no paint-wetting impairment substances (PWIS).

Combined with a dryer, the sequence delivers air meeting ISO 8573-1:2010 Class 1 for oil, total oil of 0.01 mg/m³ or less, with PWIS-free status verified as a separate requirement by paint-crater test methods such as those in VDMA 24364.

A white silicone-free filter housing shown with its gauge, element, brackets and an alternative drain fitting
  • 0.01 mg/m³Total oil, ISO 8573-1:2010 Class 1
  • 0.01 µmFinest particle and aerosol grade
  • More than 99.6 %Of the oil aerosol removed
  • 20–21 mN/mSurface tension of silicone, below most liquid paints

Benefits

The problems it solves

In a paint shop, compressed air atomises the paint and cleans the surface before coating. Here is what silicone in that air does, and how the filters stop it.

  • Craters in the finish

    The problem

    Silicone lowers the surface energy of any spot it touches, so primer, basecoat and clearcoat pull away and leave craters.

    How it solves it

    Removing PWIS from your air removes a direct cause of craters, so more parts pass inspection the first time.

  • Costly rework

    The problem

    A cratered surface must be sanded, cleaned and repainted, using paint, booth time and a second oven cycle.

    How it solves it

    Each crater avoided saves the sanding, repainting and second cure, and the booth time that goes with them.

  • A filter that contaminates

    The problem

    Silicone grease is widely used on O-rings in pneumatic equipment, so an ordinary filter can add silicone at the last stage before the paint.

    How it solves it

    Every wetted part, seal and lubricant is silicone-free and verified, so the filter never becomes a new source.

  • Oil you cannot see

    The problem

    Oil vapour and volatile siloxanes drawn in at the compressor intake pass through coalescing media as gas.

    How it solves it

    The activated carbon stage adsorbs them, bringing total oil, including vapour, to 0.01 mg/m³ or below.

  • Supplier audits

    The problem

    Automotive manufacturers require PWIS-free equipment in painting areas, verified to a recognised test method.

    How it solves it

    Test certificates for PWIS-free status satisfy OEM supplier audits and equipment approval for your paint areas.

  • Weak bonds and faulty contacts

    The problem

    Silicone films make adhesive bonds fail at the interface, solder dewet from pads and relay contacts develop high resistance.

    How it solves it

    Surfaces blown off with PWIS-free air keep the surface energy adhesives need, and siloxane-free air keeps contacts clean.

Where it’s used

Wherever air touches a finish

Wherever compressed air atomises a coating or prepares a surface for one, a trace of silicone shows in the result.

  • Robots welding a car body on an assembly line

    Automotive paint shops

    Robot atomisers, spray guns, booth blow-off and body cleaning ahead of primer, basecoat and clearcoat.

  • A hand mixing paint in open tins of colour

    Paint and coatings manufacture

    Air for mixing, filling and laboratory spray-out testing, where contamination would appear in quality-control panels.

  • Molten metal pouring from a ladle in a foundry

    Coil coating and metal packaging

    Coating lines where a contamination defect repeats along kilometres of strip.

Also vehicle body repair workshops, automotive component painting, aerospace, rail, commercial vehicle and agricultural equipment, powder coating, wood and furniture finishing, adhesive bonding and sealing, electronics, optics and glass coating, and printing and labelling.

How it works

Coarse to fine, nothing added

Each stage takes out the contaminant that would overload the next, and every stage is built so it adds no silicone of its own.

How silicone-free filtration works: compressed air passes a general-purpose and a high-efficiency coalescing filter, which capture oil and water aerosol and drain it away, then a dryer and a dry particulate filter, then an activated carbon stage that adsorbs oil vapour and siloxanes, and finally a point-of-use filter just ahead of the spray gun. Every filter is made with silicone-free seals, lubricant and drains, so no paint-wetting substances are added back to the air. Air inCoalescing1 µmCoalescing0.01 µmAutomatic drains, to theoil–water separator DryerDryparticulate ActivatedcarbonTotal oil ≤ 0.01 mg/m³ Silicone-free seals,lubricant and drains Point-of-usefilterSpray gunPaintedpanel 12345Air carrying oil and siloxanesClean, silicone-free airOily condensate drainedOil and water aerosolOil vapour and siloxanesSilicone-free seals

  1. 1. CoalesceA general-purpose 1 µm filter takes the heavier aerosol load, then a high-efficiency 0.01 µm filter brings oil aerosol down to 0.01 mg/m³ or below. The captured droplets merge, drain to the sump and leave through the automatic drain.

  2. 2. Dry and polishThe dryer lowers the dew point so no liquid water reaches the carbon stage or the paint, and a dry particulate filter retains the dust generated inside the dryer.

  3. 3. AdsorbActivated carbon holds oil vapour, odours and volatile siloxanes that pass through the coalescers as gas. It sits after the dryer because dry air at a stable temperature gives the carbon its full capacity.

  4. 4. Nothing added backEvery wetted part of every filter, including the seals, the O-ring lubricant and the automatic drain, is made without silicone, so no stage adds silicone back to the air it has cleaned.

  5. 5. At the boothA point-of-use silicone-free filter sits directly upstream of your spray gun or robot atomiser, catching what the distribution network adds, such as pipe scale and fitting residues.

Keep the carbon stage inlet at or below its rated temperature, commonly 35 °C.

Get the full details

Our brochure covers it in detail, and our questionnaire tells us what we need to recommend the right one for your plant.

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