For the past several decades, industrial facilities in a wide variety of industries have deployed dust collection systems as part of its manufacturing process. As technology and filtration techniques have improved, these systems have changed and evolved to become more sophisticated, and at times complex.

Dust collectors are used in many industries to improve air quality and remove harmful particles from the air. There are several types of dust collectors that are commonly used in industrial and commercial settings. Here are some of the most common types:

Baghouses

A baghouse consists of a vessel with many filters (bags) inside. The bags are located in rows and mounted on a tube sheet. The tube sheet separates the dirty air from the clean air. Dirty air enters the bag house near the bottom. The dirty air is forced through porous bags which have a built-up filter cake. Clean air goes through the filter/bag and leaves through the top of the vessel, while the dust falls down to be discharged through the hopper.

Cartridge Collectors

Cartridge collectors operate similar to baghouses except they use pleated cartridges to provide much higher surface areas in smaller filter volume than bag filters.  This means they are much smaller than baghouse for the same air volume.  However, the cartridges have lower temperature limits and can plug easily. They are used in the following applications: grinding, sandblasting, welding fumes, laser and plasma cutting fumes, graphite, pharmaceutical powders, acid fine chemical powders, and more. When dusts are difficult to handle, hygroscopic, or high temperature, a baghouse is a better alternative for trouble free dust collection and longer filter life.

 

Cyclone

The cyclone is the simplest design of all dust collectors. It is a mechanical way to remove dust from an air stream. The cyclone uses centrifugal and gravitational forces to force the dust to the vessel walls and then let gravity collect it. The cyclone requires only a discharge valve and fan for operation. Cyclones require very little maintenance. Cyclones are often used as prefilters for other dust collectors.  They can provide high removal efficiencies of larger dust particles, thereby decreasing the loading on the main dust collector, this can increase total removal efficiency, decrease system maintenance and extend equipment life, not to mention collect material before contamination.

ESP (Electro Static Precipitator)

ESPs use high voltage to electrically charge particulate in the air. The charged particulate is collected on charged plates as the air stream passes. ESPs use large amounts of electricity and can get collection efficiencies as high as 99% for many applications. ESPs provide good removal of sub-micron particulate. ESP are expensive and require high operating and maintenance costs.

Wet Scrubbers

Wet Scrubbers are available in a variety of designs including cyclones, venturi, packed towers, cloud chambers and fluidized beds. Wet scrubbers spray water into the dirty airstream allowing dust and water droplets to contact, thereby making them easier to collect.  Wet scrubbers have high removal efficiency but can be expensive to operate and treat the slurry leaving. The wet cyclone is just like a regular cyclone except that they spray water in the cyclone.

 

 

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The “EZBIBO” system was originally designed for use with Aerodyne GPC Cyclones to allow for easier bag-in bag-out capture systems for low toxic level pharmaceutical dusts typically encountered with encapsulators, pill coating systems, and some mixing operations.  The system allows for capture and bagging of waste material in the pharmaceutical process allowing for weighing and accounting of all materials used in a process, with minimal exposure to operation personnel.

The pharmaceutical industry has unique requirements that normal industrial applications do not have.  Whether it’s the strict FDA rules or the flexibility of batch production, normal industrial practices and equipment don’t always apply.  Even with continuous production becoming more popular, pharmaceutical applications are different than standard industrial applications.

The Vacu-Valve is a low cost alternative to a rotary valve.  There are no motors, pneumatics, or moving parts as it operates by using the system vacuum above to seal the sleeve.  This is typically from a cyclone, baghouse, or cartridge collector.  Since the sleeve is split, gravity will slowly pull the solids down through the sleeve until they exit the sleeve and fall into the collection hopper.  As you can see from the description, not all solids will easily pass through this.  The ideal particulate would be sand.  It’s small, spherical shape and the density allows it to easily pass through the valve.  It doesn’t bridge easily.

How does the OSHA silica rule affect me?

Space is an ever-present factor in the design of a ventilation system. Ductwork takes up space, dust collectors often must be placed outside under NFPA regulations, and said collectors often require a skid. Aerodyne’s GPC cyclone offers a viable alternative to space-hogging equipment in many applications.

Choosing the right dust collection solution requires careful evaluation of the specific application.

Choosing the right dust collection solution requires careful evaluation of the specific application.

A company that produces additives for livestock feed are looking to produce a key ingredient in-house that they previously bought from suppliers. In order to do so they need to use a spray dryer, which will exhaust 26,000 ACFM. The company needed a way to remove the dust, which are about 16 microns and larger, from and cool the exhaust and turned to Aerodyne for a solution.