How to Choose an Industrial Dust Collector
Effective industrial dust collector equipment manages, reduces and eliminates potentially harmful airborne matter and fumes during production and manufacturing. It proactively prevents costly factory shutdowns and sick employee absenteeism.
PCS offers a wide variety of these systems to meet your specific application needs. To narrow your search, it is important to answer a few basic questions.
Pulse Jet Collectors
The Donaldson Torit FT pulse jet baghouse is an easy-to-operate industrial dust collector. Its simple design and built-in maintenance tools make it a great choice for industrial processes that produce combustible dust, such as wood working and metalworking. It’s also enabled with the iCue connected filtration monitoring service, which remotely monitors dust collection equipment and provides operational insights directly to end-users—helping facilities reduce unplanned downtime, support efficient operation and maintenance, and automatically capture compliance data.
A pulse jet baghouse works by injecting bursts of compressed air on the surface of the filter fabric to remove dust that accumulates during a continuous process. This cleaning action is triggered by a sensor that measures the filter’s thickness, or dust cake. When the filter reaches an acceptable level of buildup, the sensor signals the compressor to spray short bursts of air on the bag’s surface. This releases the trapped dust, which drops off the filter into a hopper for disposal.
Pulse jet systems are ideal for combustible dust applications because they eliminate harmful dust particles and gases from the work environment without stopping the process. They can be used for a variety of tasks, from welding and grinding to painting and sand blasting.
In addition to removing combustible dusts from the airstream, these industrial dust collection systems help facilities meet ATEX and NFPA standards to protect workers’ health. In fact, combustible dusts are one of the most common contaminant sources that Nederman routinely handles for clients in a wide range of industries.
The iCue connected filtration monitoring service enables the iSeries Pulse Jet to track system performance and provide operational insights directly to the end-user. It can help reduce unplanned downtime, support efficient maintenance and operation, and automatically capture compliance data—all while lowering operating costs. It’s also compatible with the iSeries FilterCheck mobile app that allows technicians to remotely check and maintain filters from anywhere with an internet connection. This tool helps reduce maintenance industrial dust collector time and downtime by providing detailed inspection reports, a diagnostic troubleshooting guide and tips. It can also help facility managers plan upcoming maintenance and equipment replacements, which is important for budgeting and asset management.
Baffle Chambers and Settling Chambers
Industrial dust collectors are equipment systems that separate granular solid pollutants from process exhaust gases prior to venting them into the atmosphere. They may be of single unit construction or part of a larger ducted system. Regardless, the collection system must efficiently collect and filter the material being handled while also meeting local air quality safety, occupational health and environmental regulations.
The simplest of all dust collectors is the gravity settling chamber. This consists of a box installed in the ductwork where the increased cross sectional area reduces gas velocity. The slower flow encourages the heavier dust particles to drop out, resulting in greater than 50-50% of particle removal efficiency. Baffles are often added to a gravity settling chamber to increase surface areas where the particles can collide and be collected.
Other dust collector designs include cyclone and helix separators. A cyclone dust collector moves air through the device at a 90 degree angle to create a centrifugal force. The heavy dust falls to the bottom of the device while clean air is discharged from the helix or cylinder wall. These units can be used with a variety of filter media including bags, cartridges or pleated filters.
Helix separators are more sophisticated devices that use a series of curved or angled surfaces to direct the flow of air toward a center point in the device. The centrifugal force created by the movement of the particles is stronger near the center and allows lighter, smaller dust to fall out. Several helix separators can be placed together to produce an effective centrifugal separator with a higher efficiency than a single helix separator.
Other important components of the dust collection system are the ductwork and fan. A duct must be industrial dust collector constructed from a material that resists degradation due to the chemistry of the airstream it conveys. Silencers may be added to the fan inlet or discharge if noise is an issue. The ducting is often connected to the dust collector with flexible connectors to avoid breakout noise from the fan. Finally, silencers are usually fitted to the duct inlet and discharge to prevent noise from radiating back into the facility.
Dry Centrifugal Collectors
In industrial workplaces that produce fibrous dust, debris, mists and fumes, dust collection equipment is necessary to minimize worker health risks, protect expensive equipment and facilities, and facilitate compliance with air quality standards. Choosing the right kind of dust collector for a facility depends on several key factors, including the physical and chemical composition of collected particulates, process exhaust conditions of temperature and moisture, and both local and federal regulations.
A wide variety of industrial filtration systems are available to collect airborne contaminants generated during production processes. Each of these systems operates according to a different principle and has its own advantages and drawbacks. Ultimately, the system chosen should be capable of providing optimum performance while minimizing operational costs and maintenance requirements.
Dry Centrifugal Collectors are the most common form of dust collection for nonmetallic combustible particles. They utilize a circular motion that uses centrifugal force to separate the dust from the gas stream, and are designed for use with smaller particle sizes up to 5 microns. They can be used as precleaners before baghouses or as standalone collectors in wood shops, shot blasting, grain and agriculture, mills, recycling plants, and other manufacturing processes that produce fine dust.
Air Conveyers are a popular choice for larger particles. They are relatively inexpensive and operate on the principle of high velocity, low air volume. However, their piping can suffer excessive wear from abrasive materials, and they can plug with steam, condensation, or other chemicals. They can also be overwhelmed by large concentrations of combustible materials.
Self-Contained Systems are designed to include all the components of a ducted dust collection system, but without the ductwork. They can be used with envelope bags, cartridge filters, blanket media, or box filters. The ideal self-contained dust collector design maximizes collection efficiency and filter media longevity.
Wet Cyclone Scrubbers are nearly identical to their dry cyclone counterparts in that the gas stream passes through stationary scrubbing vanes where they are wetted with cleaning liquid. The resulting cyclonic movement carries the fine particles into the wet wall of the scrubber, where they stick to the surface and are thrown off the cyclone walls by centrifugal force and fall down to the bottom for collection.
Wet Scrubbers
Wet scrubbers use a wet substance to separate airborne contaminants, such as combustible metal dust. The flue gas is funneled through an area where it is sprayed with a liquid that reacts with the airborne pollutants. Water is the most common choice for this wet scrubbing process, but certain chemicals can also be used. The resulting vaporized gases are then vented.
This type of system is ideal for facilities that have to handle combustible dusts that cannot be collected with dry filtration solutions. It is important to select the right material for wet scrubber construction, however, because these systems are susceptible to corrosion and may require frequent cleaning. This is particularly true in high-temperature environments or when handling toxic chemicals, such as hydrochloric acid, sulfur dioxide, chloride, and hydrogen sulfide.
Various designs exist for wet scrubbers, and the design of each depends on the inlet gas conditions and the nature of the air pollutants to be removed. For example, a nickel-based cast-iron alloy is appropriate for a high-temperature environment because it has strong corrosion resistance. Stainless steel is another material that resists corrosion, and polyvinyl chloride is effective in low-temperature applications.
When selecting a wet scrubber, consider its liquid flow rate, or the ratio of solvent to polluted gas treated. A higher liquid flow rate will allow for better pollution removal.
Cartridge collectors are a popular option for removing particulates from workspace air in many industries, including pharma, food processing, and metalworking. Air is drawn into a filter compartment of the industrial dust collection system, which then passes through cylindrical cartridges lined with pleated filters. This filtration technology allows for up to 99% of harmful particulate matter to be removed from the working environment, releasing clean air back into the workplace. Cartridges are available in a range of sizes to suit each workspace, and can be designed to be mounted on existing downdraft tables or walk-in filtration units.
