A Chamberland filter, also known as a Pasteur

Louis Pasteur

Louis Pasteur was a French chemist and microbiologist born in Dole. He is remembered for his remarkable breakthroughs in the causes and preventions of diseases. His discoveries reduced mortality from puerperal fever, and he created the first vaccine for rabies and anthrax. His experiments...

-Chamberland filter, is a porcelain

Porcelain

Porcelain is a ceramic material made by heating raw materials, generally including clay in the form of kaolin, in a kiln to temperatures between and...

 water filter invented by Charles Chamberland

Charles Chamberland

Charles Chamberland was a French microbiologist from Chilly-le-Vignoble in the department of Jura who worked with Louis Pasteur....

 in 1884. It is similar to the Berkefeld filter

Berkefeld filter

A Berkefeld filter is a water filter made of diatomaceous earth or Kieselguhr. It was invented in Germany in 1891, and by 1922 was being marketed in the United Kingdom by the Berkefeld Filter Co...

 in principle.

Design

It consists of an unglazed porcelain tube that contains a ring of enameled porcelain through which the inflow pipe fits. The core of the porcelain is made up of a metal pipe with holes through which water flows out and is collected. Inflow is pressurized so filtration occurs under force.

Types

There are 13 types in general: L₁ to L₁₃.


L₁ filters have the coarsest pore size while L₁₃ have the finest.

Usefulness

It is as useful as other ceramic

Ceramic

A ceramic is an inorganic, nonmetallic solid prepared by the action of heat and subsequent cooling. Ceramic materials may have a crystalline or partly crystalline structure, or may be amorphous...

 and porcelain

Porcelain

Porcelain is a ceramic material made by heating raw materials, generally including clay in the form of kaolin, in a kiln to temperatures between and...

 filters. It is a good bacterial water filter

Filter (water)

A water filter removes impurities from water by means of a fine physical barrier, a chemical process or a biological process. Filters cleanse water to various extents for irrigation, drinking water, aquariums, and swimming pools.-Methods of filtration:...

 used mainly as a high volume water filter. The filter works more quickly when the water supplied is under pressure. As other filters of its kind, it cannot filter very small particles like virus

Virus

A virus is a small infectious agent that can replicate only inside the living cells of organisms. Viruses infect all types of organisms, from animals and plants to bacteria and archaea...

es or mycoplasma

Mycoplasma

Mycoplasma refers to a genus of bacteria that lack a cell wall. Without a cell wall, they are unaffected by many common antibiotics such as penicillin or other beta-lactam antibiotics that target cell wall synthesis. They can be parasitic or saprotrophic. Several species are pathogenic in humans,...

. It is used in removal of organisms from a fluid culture in order to obtain the bacterial toxin

Bacterial toxin

A bacterial toxin is a type of toxin that is generated by bacteria.Toxinosis is pathogenesis caused by the bacterial toxin alone, not necessarily involving bacterial infection A bacterial toxin is a type of toxin that is generated by bacteria.Toxinosis is pathogenesis caused by the bacterial toxin...

s.