Extending Filter Lifespan with Cyclone Pre-Filters | Aerodyne

Baghouses and Cartridge collectors are very good at removing dust from their air. However, when the dust concentration is high, or the dust is abrasive, wet, sticky or fibrous, the baghouse filters can have issues.  

• High concentration will plug of filters quickly.
• Abrasive dust will cause holes to develop in the filters.
• Wet and sticky dust will plug up the filter and/or cause filter failure.
• Fibrous dust will not easily fall to the hopper causing filters to plug.

Installation of a cyclone pre-filter is an ideal way of extending filter life.  The cyclone uses centrifugal forces to capture the dust and remove it from the airstream.  Often times the cyclone will remove 80-90% of the dust before a baghouse or cartridge collector.  This allows the filters to concentrate on the smaller dust that makes it past the cyclone.

And if you have a pulse-on-demand controller for your baghouse, you will further extend the filter life, as the filters will only be cleaned when required.

What is a cyclone dust collector?

Cyclone dust collectors are dust collectors that use centrifugal motion to remove dust from an airstream. They don’t have any moving parts and don’t use filters for dust removal. Most cyclones are vertical in design, even though Aerodyne Environmental has compact horizontal cyclone designs. They are often used as pre-filters to increase baghouse, cartridge collector and wet scrubber system efficiencies.

What is a cyclone pre-filter?

Cyclone pre-filters are cyclones installed before a baghouse or cartridge collector to increase the removal efficiency of the system.  They extend filter life and lower utility usages. The cyclone pre-filter is often used on those applications that have “Tough” dust.  “Tough” dust would be dust that is abrasive, hygroscopic, fibrous and/or wet. Often times this dust will cause operational issues with baghouse and cartridge collectors.

Why install a cyclone pre-filter?

Cyclone pre-filters are installed to optimize a dust collection system. This could mean increasing the removal efficiency of an existing dust collection system. It could be to extend filter life by decreasing the dust loading the filters are seeing, thereby decreasing the cleaning required. 

Additionally, cyclone pre-filters will lower compressed air/plant air usage by increasing the intervals between cleaning when a pulse-on-demand control system is used with it. And in those special applications, the Aerodyne SplitStream cyclone can add hot or cold air into the dirty airstream, thereby treating the air while collecting dust.

Signs You Need a Pre-Filter

The following are some signs that your dust collector isn’t operating up to par and you should look at installing a cyclone pre-filters.

1. There is a high pressure drop across your filters. This is caused by the dust building up on the filters and not being cleaned off fast enough.  The high pressure drop causes the fan to pull less air to compensate, thereby letting more dust out on to the shop floor.
2. Filters are being replaces too fast! The most common filter failures are by developing holes or plugging up.  Both failures are tied to high dust loadings.
3. Valuable product or raw material is being disposed in the dust collector waste due to contamination. As stated above, filters build up dust layers to provide the removal efficiency. Those filters will retain the material over time. If the material is valuable, this can be a lot of money that is going to waste. Pre-filters will allow the material to be collected and used in the process or product before it can be contaminated in the filters.
4. Do you have a high cost of water treatment and disposal of the scrubber blowdown? When wet scrubbers capture particulate, slurry is formed. This slurry will then have to be disposed. It will often be sent to a water treatment plant. The water treatment plant might be dedicated to the facility or municipal. Either way, additional costs are added to treat the slurry before it is disposed of or reused. A pre-filter removes a portion of the material before it is put into slurry, thereby saving costs on waste-water treatment.
5. Similar to above, since wet scrubbers form slurries, any valuable material collected in the wet scrubber will be in that slurry. So, unless the desired state of the material is within the slurry, it will have to be processed to make it useful. This means additional steps (and expense) are required to recycle the material. A cyclone pre-filter removes the material dry, before it is in slurry, thereby saving costs.

So, before you decide to purchase a new dust collector, look into the benefits of installing a cyclone pre-filter.  You just might save yourself money!

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