Dust control innovation in material handling and junction houses

Material handling in immense quantities is an integral part of all heavy industry – and a major pain point for fugitive dust and particulate emissions. Recent advances have made available modular solutions that make local dust extraction truly viable.

Miles of conveyors snake through production facilities with numerous intersections and points of unloading and stockpiling, where it’s required to drop material from a height, creating turbulence and loosening smaller particles from the mass.

If particles of a size vulnerable to becoming airborne aren’t removed at an early stage, they will likely escape at a later link in the chain. The benefit for removing the particles early is multiplied by each downstream junction and destination.

Junction houses in particular, are perfect environments for implementing a modular dust control solution that can reclaim multiple types of dust as discrete raw materials, rather than being mixed together in a centralized system and ending up as waste.

For example a steel mill will typically have junction houses for handling raw materials that are unloaded from ships or train cars in large batches of an individual material. These are also the earliest points of intervention, often being the most impactful.

Distances from junction houses and other conveyor transfer points to centralized dust control systems can be vast and the required length and routing for ducting highly impractical. Modular dust extraction units can be retrofitted to the immediate vicinity of a junction house with minimal added ducting.

Employee health and safety
Any airborne particulate matter poses a significant health hazard for employees and surrounding communities. Mitigating fugitive dust is not only important for eliminating particulate pollution but an essential safety concern. Some materials, like coal dust, even create a serious fire and explosion risk when allowed to accumulate.

Closed loop solution
The most effective type of local dust control involves a closed loop solution, where the cleaned air is immediately fed back into the process.

In the context of conveyor transfer points, it can be achieved by incorporating a push-pull method of airflow in an enclosed hooding structure. The cleaned air is pushed from underneath into the direction of the suction from the hood, creating a powerful current. It simultaneously maximizes the chances of small particles loosening from the larger mass at the appropriate time – and of those particles being directed into the dust extraction equipment rather than piling up nearby or catching wind.

Flow-dynamic dust separator
The flow-dynamic dust separator is a modular solution developed by Filtrabit, that fits inside a standard shipping container, and can be flexibly placed near the source of fugitive dust.

The separation core at the heart of the innovation effectively separates the dust from the air and allows for the dust extraction equipment to fit into a modular unit.

The intake air is directed and accelerated in a way that causes the dust particles to separate into a highly condensed side stream, where they can be captured without the large surface area of filter material required by traditional systems.

The dust captured by the unit is continuously discharged into a container, ready for immediate reuse as valuable raw material, as opposed to mixing with other types of dust in a centralized system.

For more information on the flow-dynamic dust separator, please visit the Technology page of our website and have a look through the brochure.

About Filtrabit
Filtrabit is a Finnish manufacturer of industrial-scale dust extraction systems. Filtrabit’s solution effectively extracts microparticles from industrial dust-laden gas streams, which helps reduce air pollutants from industrial sources and accelerate emissions reductions through the reuse of recovered raw materials.