The Importance of an Industrial Dust Collector
A dust collector system can be one of the most important pieces of equipment in your facility. It can impact employee safety, compliance with combustible dust regulations, or noise control in the shop.
Understanding the basics can help you make a well-informed choice. This will prevent surprises during commissioning and operation that might occur because something was not known in the planning phase.
Dust Types
Dust collectors are designed to collect and filter air pollutants such as dust, smoke, and fumes. They help improve indoor air quality for factories, workshops, plants, and commercial spaces. Regulatory bodies like OSHA and EPA put restrictions on the amount of dust, smoke, and fumes that industrial processes produce. If left untreated, these pollutants can cause respiratory problems in the short term and lead to other health issues in the long run.
Many facilities use abrasive materials that create dust particles in their production process. These include warehouses, factories, and manufacturers that use INDUSTRIAL DUST COLLECTOR abrasive machines to coat products with chemicals and paints. These facilities often need to collect this dust to comply with environmental regulations, maintain employee health and safety, and ensure a quality product.
Depending on the industry, some facilities may also need to filter out combustible dust. This type of dust, if not collected properly, can ignite and explode if there is an ignition source nearby. This kind of dust can be found in chemical processing, woodworking, pharmaceuticals, metal fabrication, and mining industries.
To reduce combustible dust, a facility can choose from various types of systems. For example, a multiple tube cyclonic dust collector can help reduce the amount of combustible dust by using centrifugal force to separate the debris from an air stream. Other options include pulse jet, wet scrubbers, and electrostatic precipitators.
Particulate Matter
Many industrial environments generate dust from a variety of processes such as transporting, handling, processing, grinding, cutting, polishing, mixing, screening and welding. Particulate matter can also be generated by natural sources such as lawn mowing, fires and wind generated dust storms. Regardless of origin, dust particles can contaminate equipment, reduce productivity and cause health hazards for employees.
Industrial air quality standards require facilities to use sophisticated dust collection systems in order to keep operations running smoothly and comply with strict safety regulations. Depending on the moisture level, texture, size and concentration of the dust in an environment, there are multiple types of dust collectors that can be used.
For instance, cyclone separators are designed to remove particulate from the air by using centrifugal force. They are ideal INDUSTRIAL DUST COLLECTOR for capturing large, heavier dust particles with moderate efficiencies (+90%) and can be used in woodshops, paper mills and shot blasting processes.
However, for more fine particulate, electrostatic precipitators are the best choice. These systems work by negatively charging airborne particles as they move through discharge wires and collecting plates. This prevents them from being repelled by other positive charged particles and allows them to be swept up into the hopper. This type of dust collector is often found in fossil fuel power plants. Other more specialized systems include wet scrubbers and venturi scrubbers, which offer high particulate collection efficiencies, but also absorb gaseous pollutants like acid gases.
Dust Collection Methods
There are many different types of dust collector systems. The type that works best for your facility depends on what types of dust are produced and the size of the particles, as well as state and local regulations regarding air quality and employee safety. Regardless of what type of system you choose, there are many options available for filtration methods, filter media and other equipment components to increase collection efficiency and extend the life of your filters.
Wet dust collection (scrubber) systems work by mixing air with water at high speed. This encapsulates larger particles in water droplets and agglomerates smaller dust particles into large masses, making them easier to collect. These systems have a very good collection efficiency for respirable dust.
Another method is the baghouse, which uses a fan to create a vacuum that pulls environmental air into the system, where a filter captures contaminants from a receptacle or dust hopper. This system is often used by powder coating companies, metal fabrication, cement plants and paper manufacturers. The system can be designed using a shaker or pulse jet system to clear the filter when it gets full.
Other systems include cyclones, which utilize centrifugal force to separate dust and debris from the airflow. The heavier contaminants are deposited in a collection hopper and the cleaned air is returned to the workspace. Choosing between a ducted, downdraft or booth dust collector for your facility will depend on how your operators perform their processes. If they use stationary grinders, a ducted system may be the best option.
Combustible Dust
There are many types of combustible dust that can cause a flash fire or explosion in the right conditions. Combustible dusts are found in many facilities, including those working with agricultural products (such as sugar and grain), metals, chemicals and pharmaceuticals.
In the case of a facility dealing with these types of materials, it is important to have a high quality and efficient dust collector. This will keep the combustible dust away from areas where employees are located, ensure that the air can move freely throughout the facility, and reduce the possibility of a catastrophic explosion.
To avoid dust explosions, it is also important to follow all local and federal standards when utilizing a combustible dust collection system. This includes proper ventilation, locating the dust collector as close as possible to the source of the combustible dust, keeping static electricity under control by bonding and grounding equipment, and making sure that all the components of the system are matched properly.
The proper handling of combustible dusts helps protect workers, prevent costly manufacturing shutdowns, and avoid long sick leaves for personnel. This can be accomplished by specifying a high quality, custom designed and installed industrial dust collection system with the appropriate explosion protection technology to meet all local and national codes and standards.
