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Spiral Prismatic Packing (SPP)

Does anyone have any experience of combining 6pc plates in a 4 "column (or larger) with about 50-60cm 4" pipe (or larger) containing SPP filling above to get as neutral as possible in the least possible height?

According to some people SPP is the ultimate filling material. Is it really in 4" columns and larger?

What size of the SPP would be optimal for 4 "columns and larger to maintain flows?

And how does this affect the plates feature and column flow-product per hour, etc.?

It is easy to clean by back-flushing the same way as the plates, which is one of the advantages.

Cheers

Comments

  • edited July 2013

    Scorcia or lava rock as well as stainless steel wool has suggested a better/cheaper alternative to Spiral Prismatic Packing (SPP).
    SD placed a large order for SPP and was fortunate to cancel it at the last minute without much penalty because SS wool seemed to be a much cheaper alternative. Experiments continue but I'm sold on it. The trick is to pack it much tighter than you normally would with copper mesh. No special retaining disks needed with the wool and the complex sizing of the SPP to the column diameter is unnecessary. Being completely inert the SS wool, unlike copper mesh, will last for years and years.
    Not much hard data to report from my end but the few times that I've ran with it have been successful up to 4" column size, especially after repacking it tighter.

  • It would be intresant if you had the opportunity to compare SPP or any other type of high efficiency filler against your other packing materials so we will see both pros and cons of these different filling materials, both in power to cleanse them by back flushing the stuffing together with plates when all sitting together ... I'm really looking forward to your results.

    Cheers

  • I don't have SPP and it is expensive to get. Scorcia is cheap and easy for some people to get but not for me because I don't need 10 cubic meters minimum.
    The SS wool, I bought a big roll of it from USA and have most of it left. I guess for me it is a lifetime supply unless I upgrade to a much, much larger still.
    I'll try to get you more data on the SS wool after our holiday but the scorcia and SPP is not in my future I think. And as you already know I'm limited on power so 4" is the largest size column that I can test for now. SS wool in a 6" packed column "might" be possible for me.
    Manu in Vietnam has the best SPP price I believe but he only makes the tiny size that may not be appropriate for a larger size column. I think his is geared toward a small 2" column if I'm not mistaken. SPP from China costs a lot more than he can sell it for.

  • Mimime has done side by side testing and now uses the stainless wool. He found SPP difficult to tune and run, it needed a low power input and was sensitive to flooding, and found that the stainless wool gave a similar result in percieved neutralness at a fraction of the price and at a much greater collection rate i believe.

    StillDragon Australia & New Zealand - Your StillDragon® Distributor for Australia & New Zealand

  • Why SS wool instead of copper mesh, I thought the copper mesh took out some of the sulfites?

  • We have coper plates and caps that do that mate. The other thing with the sufites is to actually have a problem before attempting to fix it. If you can't detect them from your washes with your practises why bother trying to eliminate them?

    StillDragon Australia & New Zealand - Your StillDragon® Distributor for Australia & New Zealand

  • What kind of SS wool should I be looking for? I have found three different varieties listed as such:

    Coarse grade fiber width approximately 120 microns. Medium grade fiber width approximately 80 microns. Fine grade fiber width approximately 50 microns.

    Any input as to which I should pull the trigger on?

  • edited July 2013

    I seem to recall @minime using MEDIUM, but not sure of the actual fibre width, so don't hold me to that.

  • @brewsmith, @Smaug bought the right stuff and mailed it to me in China. Hoping he will chime in here. The stuff is not expensive at all compared to SPP and there is no need for a special retainer to hold it in place. I can find no downside to this product.

  • No such thing as a special retainer anymore, it's called a filter plate.

    StillDragon Australia & New Zealand - Your StillDragon® Distributor for Australia & New Zealand

  • edited July 2013

    @Lloyd said: brewsmith, Smaug bought the right stuff and mailed it to me in China. Hoping he will chime in here. The stuff is not expensive at all compared to SPP and there is no need for a special retainer to hold it in place. I can find no downside to this product.

    Briwax Wood Care

    $118.00 for a 14 lb. reel
    Was not at all sure how much was needed for testing so I sent the entire roll.

    StillDragon North America - Your StillDragon® Distributor for North America

  • IMHO Stainless steel wool column packing warrants its own topic/thread.

    I watched this topic with interest at "another site", but didn't get round to using it at the time - and unfortunately the memory is NOT what it once was.

    I'm using SS scrubbies in 3" copper over my Dash1 plates for neutral, but I'd like to learn more about using SS wool before ordering. Any takers?

  • edited July 2013

    I'm using the SS wool that @minime shared with us on my SD hybrid and have had very good results. I was looking at getting SPP but with it being so hard to obtain in the states SS wool is a no brainer.

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