Anionic surfactant (sodium oleate, SO) was used to pretreat polypropylene fibrous filters to make them negatively charged. This work examines the effects on particle loading of an anionic surfactant-pretreated filter. Also, the effects of various factors, such as the particle size, the face velocity, concentration of the surfactant, and particle distribution (mono and poly) on the particle loading characteristics were evaluated. Experimental data reveal that the electric field of a filter treated with anionic surfactant (SO) could be directly measured using an electrofieldmeter, suggesting that the pretreatment with surfactant charged the filters. The results demonstrate that pretreating the filter with SO surfactant increases its particle-loading capacity. The clogging points of the untreated filter, and of the 0.01, 0.05 and 0.08 M SO-pretreated filter are 18, 23, 28 and 33 g/m(2). The loading behavior of the SO-pretreated filter depended on the size of the particles and the operating face velocity. Additionally, the loading behavior of the SO-pretreated filter with polydisperse particles is much the same as that with monodisperse particles. However, the clogging point of the SO-pretreated filter with polydisperse particles is higher than that with monodisperse equal size. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.