Dust control upgrade for cement plant, Australia

Dust control upgrade for cement plant, Australia
03 December 2008


Donaldston Australasia was contracted to upgrade the bulk handling technology used by Morgan Cement’s manufacturing plant in Port Kembla, New South Wales.

According to the client, the aim was to eliminate the dust clouds which formed from dry cement bag filling so they would not affect employees or the local environment.

The manufacturer’s plant runs continuous production and filling operations, where it fills bulk bags and trucks using a hopper system fed with dry cement product by screw conveyors.

The company’s original dust collection system had performed well, but it was decided it was time to modernise its technology as part of forward planning.

The original system used a reverse pulse action as part of the cleaning process, which pulled too much air through a small filter area. This had the potential to cause a small dust cloud and the problem occurred occasionally when the bins were being emptied.

The system was acting as an exhaust for the two finished product bins as well as the fluidising pads and air slides at the bin discharges. The cement products are fed in with a temperature around 50 degrees Celsius.

The system’s pads and air slides fed air fed back through the screw conveyors, only for it to escape from under the screw covers. The client says it was sometimes hard to see through the dust fog.

The solution provider replaced the original dust collector system with the new PowerCore CPV3 dust collector technology. At first, its fan was delivering a higher volume than required, 3000 cubic meters per hour, which lead to a higher than anticipated gain in differential pressure.

The pressure stabilised around 85 to 88mmWG, so the company installed a damper to control the divided air coming through the system. This reduced the exhaust volume to 1400 cubic metres per hour and the differential pressure to an ideal level between 34 and 40mmWG.

The client says this also allowed its technicians to instantly see the high level of dust and control gained with each pulse.

According to the cement manufacturer, the new system can be easily cleaned and is yet to reach the maximum differential pressure set point of 50mmWG. Workers would not have been able to stand in the vicinity of the old system on occasions.

The system was installed on 14 August 2008 and there have been no reported problems or issues since.

Published under Cement News