There are so many industrial dust collectors out there, and choosing the best one for your company can be difficult, especially if you don’t know much about them. If you’re one of them, then you’ve come to the right place.
An industrial dust collector is a system that helps enhance the quality of air released from commercial and industrial processes, by collecting impurities from the air, such as dust. The system consists of a dust filter bag, a blower, a dust removal system, and a filter-cleaning system, allowing it to handle high-volume dust loads.
There are different types of industrial dust collectors, and each has a different purpose. To choose the best one, you need to identify which one will work best for your company. To help you decide, we’ve broken down the different types of industrial dust collectors, as well as their uses. The leader in industrial filtration will save lives by creating cleaner and it has fast friendly service and science-based solutions for dust, fume, and mist control.
Uses of Industrial Dust Collectors
Companies use industrial dust collectors in many processes, to either remove granular solid pollutants from exhaust gases or to recover valuable granular solid or powder from process streams. Dust collection is the continuous process of collecting any process-generated dust from its source point. It can be a single unit or a group of devices that separate particulate matter from the process air.
Mist collectors can remove particulate matter in the form of fine liquid droplets from the air. They are very helpful in collecting metal-working fluids and oil mists to maintain or improve the quality of the air in the workplace.
Smoke and fume collectors can remove sub-micrometer size particulates from the air. They can eliminate or reduce particulate gas and matter streams from industrial processes, such as plastic and rubber processing, welding, quenching, and tempering.
Different Types of Industrial Dust Collectors
There are five types of industrial dust collectors, which include the following:
- Fabric Filters
- Inertial Separators
- Unit collectors
- Wet scrubbers
- Electrostatic precipitators
Fabric Filters
Fabric filters use filtration in separating dust particles from dusty gases. They’re among the most efficient and cost-effective dust collectors available. They can achieve a collection efficiency that is more than 99% of very fine particulates.
How do fabric filters work?
Dust-laded gases enter the baghouse and then pass through the fabric bags which act as filters. These bags can be synthetic, woven, felted cotton, or glass-fiber material, in either an envelope or tube-shape.
To make sure that the filter bags will last long, choose the ones that have pre-coating or filter enhancer. Using this maximizes the efficiency of dust collection, via the formation of dust cake or coating on the surface of the filter media. Not only does this trap fine particulates, but this also filters media.
Without a pre-coat, the filter bag allows the fine particulates to bleed through the bag filter system since the bag can only do part of the filtration. This leaves the finer parts to the filter enhancer dust cake.
Inertial Separators
Inertial separators can purify the air by separating the dust particulates from the gas streams using combined forces, such as centrifugal, inertial, and gravitational. These forces then move the dust to an area where the forces exerted by the gas steam are minimal. And then, the gravity moves the dust into a hopper, and temporarily stores it there.
There are three types of inertial separators, and each works differently. These are:
- Baffle chambers. Baffle chambers serve as pre-cleaners. They use a fixed baffle plate, which causes the conveying gas stream to make an unexpected change of direction. Large particulates don’t follow the gas stream, but they continue into a dead air space where they settle.
- Settling chamber. Settling chambers consist of a large box placed in the ductwork. As the cross-section at the chamber increases, the speed of the dust-filled airstream decreases, thus, heavier particles settle out. While they have a simple design, companies don’t always use them because they take too much space requirements.
- Centrifugal collectors. They separate dust particles from the gas stream using a cyclonic action. The dust gas stream enters at a particular angle, and is rapidly spun. The centrifugal force it creates throws the dust particulates toward the wall of the cyclone. Once they strike the wall, they fall into a hopper.
Unit Collectors
Unit collectors are small and self-contained, and they control contamination at its source. They consist of a fan and a dust collector. Because of their size, they are perfect for portable, isolated, and frequently-moved dust-producing operations, such as silos and bins.
There are two types of unit collectors, which are:
- Cyclone collectors. They are perfect for coarse dust.
- Fabric collectors. They are normally used for fine dust.
Wet Scrubbers
Wet scrubbers are industrial dust collectors that use liquids. In this type of system, the scrubbing liquid comes into contact with a gas stream that contains dust particles. The greater the contact for the gas and liquid and streams is, the higher the dust removal efficiency is.
While there are different types of wet scrubbers, all of them follow three basic principles:
- Gas-humidification. This process agglomerates the fine particulates, which makes it easier to collect them.
- Gas-liquid contact. This process is very important because it affects the efficiency of the collection of the particulates.
- Gas-liquid separation. In this process, once the particulates make contact, water droplets and dust particulates combine to form agglomerates. And as they grow larger, they settle into the collector.
Electrostatic precipitators
Electrostatic precipitators use static electricity to remove dust particles from the air stream. They are commonly used at power stations to remove ash and soot accumulated when fossil fuels are burned to produce electricity.
How do electrostatic precipitators work?
Air passes through two electrodes in the form of metal bars, wires, or plates. One of the electrodes has a high-negative charge, so as the dust-laded air passes through it, the dust particles in it get a negative charge. And as it travels through the pipe, the dusty air encounters another electrode containing a high positive charge.
These are the different types of industrial dust collectors. While a baghouse may be perfect for one company, it doesn’t mean it’s perfect for everyone. Choosing an industrial dust collector depends on the work environment, so choose wisely.
Salman is a prolific environmental writer, and has authored more than 500 articles in reputed journals, magazines and websites. He is proactively engaged in creating mass awareness on renewable energy, waste management, sustainability and conservation all over the world.
Salman can be reached on salman@cleantechloops.com
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It’s good to know that unit dust collectors are small and self-contained, making them an excellent choice for portable and isolated dust-producing operations. My dad plans to purchase a dust collection system for a personal project. I’ll share this article with him later to use as a guide in finding the best type of dust collector to buy. Thanks!
This is a great article.
do we have different dust collectors for Pharma industries?