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Brief Guide: How to Properly Take Care of the Dust Collector?

How to Properly Take Care of the Dust Collector

Finding the best place where to buy bag filters in cement industry requires some knowledge of the optimal performance of your dust collectors. You should start by inspecting your property to enable the proper installation of the bag filters and other auxiliary machinery. When it comes to the installation of critical emissions equipment, then performing a dye test will allow you to observe any mechanical damage.

It is advised to switch off the power before performing any inspection on the unit, also other safety measures such as tagout and lockout are recommended. Knowing where to buy bag filters in cement industry allows you to familiarize yourself with key parts of the machinery such as the screw conveyors, fans and rotary valves. The following are some tips to get you started on the preparation of your filter bags.

How to Properly Take Care of the Dust Collector

Seasoning the Filter Bags

It is important to apply to start-up procedures that will create a protective dust cake on the filter unit. This process is commonly known as a pre-coat or seasoning and it is mostly performed using the dust collector or sometimes with diatomaceous earth or agricultural lime. The process of seasoning the filter bags requires that the dust collector is at its optimal functioning level.

The filter equipment found in a fabric filtered collector is installed to preserve the dust cake. The course layer is based on the initial dust cake which has been developed as a result of the conditioning period for new bags.

Precoating the Bags to Prevent Blinding

Precoating the filter bags enables them to prevent the damage as a result of dust brought about by the high velocity impacting the bags. The dust then ends up being lodged deeply on the fibers hence hindering functionality. The dust can easily get retained permanently which leads to an increase in pressure drop of the machine. It is important to protect your equipment from dust as some can clog up without allowing room for cleaning hence the term blinding. In severe cases, blinding in the process of a start-up can destroy the filter bags hence becoming expensive to maintain.

Choosing the Best Conditioning Agent

There are several conditioning agents which are used in precoating the filters such as agricultural limestone and diatomaceous earth.  There are other forms of conditioning agents that work by forming a three-layered dust cake which is porous and suitable for baghouse tasks. Experts recommend the use of unhydrated lime, fly ash, pebble, quicklime or any agent that has a spherical shape and is non-agglomerating.

Procedure for Applying a Precoat Agent

The first step is to ensure that you have an adequate amount of conditioning agent. You can do this by calculating the entire area of the filter and then dividing it by 0.042. The answer to the calculation will be the total amount of conditioning agent required by the baghouse.

If you are using diatomaceous earth, then you will need 1lb for approximately 20 square feet of the machine while for agricultural limestone, then the measurements are 1lb for every 5 square feet.

If you are unable to determine the total square feet of media required by your filter bags, you should first take the measurements. For a tubular bagged filter, you will require a bag diameter which will be multiplied by 3.1416 then multiplied by its length in inches and finally divided by 144. The final result will be in square feet of one bag. You should then multiply the number by the total number of filters found in the unit. Now you will know the exact number in square feet of filter media contained in your dust collector.

The process of precoating the media begins by turning off the post-cleaning system. Then turn on the exhaust fan to about 50 to 60 percent of the design volume, as you add the precoat material into the collector. This can be done through the access door located in the ductwork. You will, however, be required to install a takeoff measuring 2 inches in the inlet ductwork.

Be careful not to exceed 10lbs per minute for the precoat of units that have been designed for 25 thousand CFM. those with 200 thousand CFM, can only go for 100 lbs per unit. The key is to maintain the flow of the precoat to the point where the baghouse has a stabilized differential pressure. This means that the water gauge should read between 1 to 3 inches.  You will observe an even layer of duct cake contained on the filters. The next procedure is to relocate the damper to the full open and then start the collection of dust.

Observe the Pressure

The importance of observing the pressure to drop will ensure that you adjust the cleaning pressure until the condition has stabilized. You should key in the differential pressure every day to allow you to spot any developing problems with the dust collector.

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