Industrial dust collectors

Dust and airborne dust are by-products of almost all types of industrial machining work (welding, sawing, milling, sanding, grinding, etc.), as well as transportation, mixing and high temperature processes. Certain types of dust do not require extraction, but due to health and environmental risks, airborne particles that stay suspended in workplace or environmental atmospheres must be extracted and filtered.

Airborne dust can be classified in many different ways. In terms of health, one of the most important factors is particle size, as the smallest particles can get into the lungs where they have been proven to cause serious illnesses.Particles smaller than 100 μm may be inhaled, but the majority are trapped by the nose or mouth and do not end up in the air passages. Particles smaller than 10 microns, on the other hand, can pass through the pharynx and those smaller than 4 microns can enter the lungs, thus multiplying the health risk. Dust particles smaller than 2.5 μm are expelled from the lungs only with great difficulty or not at all.

When examining solid pollutants and dust found in air, the following factors provide important reference points:

• The physiological effects on humans and living organisms: in this regard, dust can be carcinogenic, toxic, can cause chronic diseases (dust particles between 0.1-5 μm containing quartz are the most dangerous, as they can cause silicosis, but fine hardwood sawdust in carpentry workshops has also been proven to be carcinogenic), it can be allergenic or physiologically neutral.
• The threshold value of dust emission that is permissible in a given atmospheric environment. The terms emission, transmission and immission are important in this regard, with laws and regulations defining the threshold values in question.
• The lower and upper explosive limits of the dust-air mixture.

Designing and installing efficient yet economically viable dust collection systems is one of the most complex processes in industrial practice, as too many factors and too many potential variables must be taken into account in the procedure. A recommendation for the design of the optimal dust collection system can therefore only be made after all parameters have been precisely assessed.

Considering the most important parameters:

• Flow rate of extracted air, Nm³/h
• Dust content of extracted air, g/m³
• Prescribed emission value, mg/Nm³
• Dust composition and particle size distribution
• Relevant physical and chemical properties of dust
• Temperature of extracted air-dust mixture
• Risk of explosion or fire
• Quantity of water vapour in the airflow and risk of condensation
• Other contaminants in the airflow
• Inside or outside installation of dust collector 
• Method for emptying dust or sludge from filter cartridge
• Formation of hazardous waste and means of disposal
• Amount of space available for installation
• Level of system automation
• Purchase and installation costs, operating costs, energy consumption

After the relevant parameters have been obtained and evaluated, a system can be recommended for collecting and extracting the contaminated air and for selecting the most effective means of dust collection and the most suitable dust trap.Mechanical methods can be used to filter dusty air, such as various types of cyclone filters (vertical cyclones, axial-flow cyclones, or ones using different principles such as gravity or inertial impact), but these are generally only used as pre-filters or pre-separators due to their limited efficiency.
In the commonest dust traps in use today, filtration is done by bags or tubes that use filter pockets, bags or other cartridges or cassettes. Besides the efficiency and level of control that these options provide, they are also highly practical.

Properties of dust collector products:

Collection: filter bag, filter tube, bag filter, pocket filter, filter cartridge, filter cassette
Capacity: 5,000 - 100,000 Nm³/h
Configuration: indoor and outdoor solutions