As appeared in October 2018 PBE

Copyright CSC Publishing powderbulk.com

SIX KEY CONSIDERATIONS FOR

PROPER DUST COLLECTION
SYSTEM DESIGN
When it comes to industrial dust collection, it’s important to take a “system design” engineering approach versus the more
common “component selection” method. This article will discuss six considerations when designing a dust collection system
to help ensure a properly functioning system for your application.

Eric Maynard Jenike & Johanson

T
hough the concept for dust collection seems The dust collector operates by either inertial or phys-
simple, many things can go wrong if you don’t ical barrier means, for example, a cloth “sock” or fabric
pay careful attention to the details. There are four or sintered metal, to retain the particles while the air
key components in a dust collection system: the filter, leaves the collector to travel to the air mover. The heart
ductwork, pickup hoods, and the air mover. Many of the dust collection system is the air mover and filter
suppliers provide excellent components that can do combination. The symbiotic relationship between these
“their job,” but the key to a successful dust collection two components is important; for instance, if the filter
system is to get the components to work well together becomes clogged with dust, the fan (air mover) per-
in a cohesive unit. formance will likely be reduced and can cause major
system problems.
Dust collection basics In my experience, designing a proper dust collection
Figure 1 shows an example of a typical dust collec- system can be broken down into six key considerations.
tion system. Dust that’s generated at a point source is These six considerations are:
pulled into pickup hoods, which is the start of the dust • Ensure sufficient conveying velocity
collection system. Airflow through the hoods can be • Use balance-by-design for system balancing
controlled by either blast gates (common) or by duct • Install the right air mover
sizing (less common but more effective). The ductwork • Avoid plugging
(also called branch and trunk lines – these are closer to • Choose an appropriate dust collector
the dust collector) is routed through the facility, often • Consider combustible dust hazards
changing directions multiple times and likely increas-
ing in diameter along its length. The trunk (main line) Ensure sufficient conveying velocity
of the duct terminates at the dust collector where the Sufficient conveying velocity is required to pick up the
particles are separated from the airstream. dust from the pickup hoods and transport the material to
the dust collector for separation from the air stream. This
first consideration is fairly simple – if you can’t effectively
FIGURE 1 convey the dust, then you won’t collect the dust.
Illustration of components for a dust collection system Particles that are sticky, have high moisture content,
are heavy or oddly shaped, or are very fine can present
conveying difficulties in the dust collection system.
Duct Air cleaning For example, wet saw dust, metal powder, fiberglass,
device and toner generate dusts that are known for being
Fan difficult to convey. Moving air (pneumatic conveying)
is relatively inefficient at transporting bulk solids, as
demonstrated by the drag force equation, which states
Hood that the drag force on a particle is proportional to the
coefficient of drag, particle area, the square of the gas’s
velocity, and the density of the fluid. Based on the fact
that air is more than 800 times less dense than water, it
Dust source becomes obvious why using air to move solids instead
of water is challenging.
 Copyright CSC Publishing

Most bulk solids will require significant air velocity uations where dust toxicity or heavy production rates
in the ductwork to convey the material in full suspen- may apply. For example, for wet sanding where heavy
sion — usually an air velocity of about 4,000 fpm (67 particles are released from a high-speed grinding
ft/s or about 45 mph). In some cases, it may not only be wheel, the higher capture velocity of 2,000 fpm within
dust that is conveyed, as additional material like fumes the range shown in the table may be needed. Note that
or vapors may be included in the material stream. As with high-momentum particles, you should try to ori-
shown in Table 1 from the American Conference of ent the pickup hood to capture the particle trajectory,
Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH), there thereby using the stream energy to introduce the dust
are a wide range of minimum duct design velocities, into the conveying duct.
which are strongly based on the material conditions1. Keep in mind that the maximum air velocity occurs
Note that these recommendations are based on con- at the open face of the pickup point in the duct, and
veying velocity and not cfm, which is a common mea- as you move away from the duct opening farther into
surement among HVAC designers where only air is the duct, the velocity reduces drastically. For example,
being transported and no consideration is made to the at the length of only one-half of a duct diameter away
type of bulk solid being conveyed with the air. In some from the pickup point, the air velocity drops by 70
cases, velocities greater than 75 ft/s (4500 fpm or about percent. At a full duct diameter away, it drops to only
50 mph) are required to convey the dust-air mixture. In about 10 percent of the inlet velocity. This demonstrates
addition to the air velocity in the ductwork, the capture the DallaValla equation2, whereby doubling the dis-
velocity at the pickup hoods is an important consider- tance between the dust point source and the hood inlet
ation. Again, ACGIH provides some helpful guidelines requires a flowrate increase of 400 percent to maintain
for recommended capture velocities at pickup hoods, the necessary capture velocity.
as shown in Table 2. ACGIH also provides helpful guidance on the type
Note that a range of capture velocities is provided and design of pickup hoods recommended for a myriad
for each condition depending upon type of dust (larger of applications. In most situations, a standard round
or small, sticky or not-sticky, for example) and energy duct is not suitable for adequately capturing a standard
(particles that include momentum when generated or dust emission, so understanding what pickup hoods are
not) associated with the dust dispersion, as well as sit- available is essential to dust collection system design.

TABLE 1
Range of minimum duct design velocities
Nature of Contaminant Examples Design Velocity
Vapors, gases, smoke All vapors, gases, and smoke Any desired velocity (economic optimum
velocity usually 1000-2000 fpm)
Fumes Welding 2000-2500

Very fine light dust Cotton lint, wood flour, litho powder 2500-3000
Dry dusts & powders Fine rubber dust, Bakelite molding powder dust, 3000-4000
jute lint, cotton dust, shavings (light), soap dust,
leather shavings

Average industrial dust Grinding dust, buffing lint (dry) wool jute dust 3500-4000
(shaker waste), coffee beans, shoe dust, granite
dust, silica flour, general material handling, brick
cutting, clay dust, foundry (general), limestone
dust, packaging and weighing asbestos dust in
textile industries

Heavy dusts Sawdust (heavy and wet), metal turnings, foundry 4000-4500
tumbling barrels and shake-out, sand blast dust,
wood blocks, hog waste, brass turnings, cast iron
boring dust, lead dust

Heavy or moist Lead dusts with small chips, moist cement dust, 4500 and up (≈ 75 ft/s or 23 m/s )
asbestos chunks from transite pipe cutting
machines, buffing lint (sticky) quick-lime dust
 Copyright CSC Publishing

TABLE 2
Range of capture velocities
Condition of Dispersion of Example Capture Velocity, fpm
Contamination
Released with practically no Evaporation form tanks; degreasing, etc. 50-100
velocity into quiet air.
Released at low velocity into Spray booths; intermittent container filling; low 100-200
moderately still air. speed conveyor transfers; welding; plating; pickling
Active generation into zone Spray painting in shallow booths; barrel filling; 200-500
of rapid air motion. conveyor loading; crushers
Released at high initial Grinding; abrasive blasting; tumbling 500-2000
velocity into zone at very
rapid air motion.
In each category above, a range of capture velocity is shown. The proper choice of values depends on several factors:
Lower End of Range Upper End of Range
1. Room air currents minimal 1. Disturbing room air currents.
or favorable to capture.
2. Contaminants of low 2. Contaminants of high toxicity.
toxicity or of nuisance value
only.
3. Intermittent, low 3. High production, heavy use.
production.
4. Large hood-large air mass 4. Small hood-local control only.
in motion.

Implement balance by design static pressure loss calculations in ASHRAE, ACGIH,

When balancing the airflow (and more importantly air and Crane’s technical paper #410. Keep in mind that
velocity) in a dust collection system, there are two main these calculations are based principally on airflow
approaches: the balance by design method and the losses only and don’t account for particle loss effects.
blast gate method. In the balance by design method, In other words, if your dust collection system will have
the duct size and layout is engineered to balance the a heavy particle load, using air-only calculations will
airflow in the system’s branches, pickups, and trunk significantly undersize the fan, cause pressure losses,
based on static pressure loss through each section. If and may result in system failure.
each branch has a similar static pressure loss, then the After determining the static pressure loss per seg-
airflow, and thus velocity, through each branch will be ment, then the duct diameter, elbows, etc., are adjusted
equal. This method doesn’t use blast gates to manually to generate equal static pressure at junctions so that the
adjust airflow at each branch, in contrast to the alterna- airflow is balanced. Keep in mind the minimum con-
tive balancing method. veying velocity must be maintained at each segment in
The balance by design method is the preferred the dust collection ductwork.
method to ensure adequate conveying velocity in each When using the blast gate method, the duct diame-
portion of the system because the method uses more ters are commonly the same throughout the system and
information to provide a more detailed approach to airflow is “balanced” through the manual adjustment of
system design. However, if changes are made to the individual blast gates at each pickup point. A blast gate
layout, such as adding new branches or increasing the is a simple manual gate valve placed near a dust pickup
conveying ducting length, then the system will require hood to control the airflow into the specific branch or
reevaluation to ensure there are no negative impacts on pickup during dust extraction. The gate can be in a
the change. This is the one downside to using a bal- closed, open, or partially open position via operator
ance by design method. Table 3 provides a comparison manual adjustment. Blast gates can cause systems to
between the balance by design and blast gate method become unbalanced and clogged with dust or ineffective
approaches to dust collection system design. with dust capture as operator-to-operator changes to the
When using the balance by design method, the gate can drastically affect system performance.
path of greatest airflow resistance is first determined This method is popular as it has a long history of
through a static pressure loss calculation. This can be implementation and has been in use for operation of
done through basic engineering calculations for airflow HVAC systems for more than 50 years. It’s important
resistance through pickup hoods, ductwork branches, to remember that with HVAC systems there are no
and trunk lines. For more information, refer to system particulates to convey, thus, restricting the flow of air
 Copyright CSC Publishing

FIGURE 2 Note that fans don’t typically adjust well to varied

solids feedrates (especially increased solids loading),
a Blast gate restriction
closed dampers, plugged lines, or heavy buildup in the
ducts, as the fan is not a positive-displacement device
that delivers a relatively constant airflow volume over a
range of system pressures. As such, it’s important that
you anticipate the system’s potential to experience max-
imum solids loading, some buildup, and other factors
that may increase system resistance when selecting the
fan and motor during dust collection system design.
Keep in mind that as the system resistance increases
in a dust collection system, the fan won’t generate
as much airflow, and, as a result, particle settlement
b. Duct plugging caused by blast gate restriction (called saltation when in a horizontal pipe or duct
section) often occurs. This will lead to not only dust
buildup, but possible complete duct plugging, which
renders airflow completely dead even though the fan
may still be operating. Many fans will lose more than
30 percent of their airflow when the system resistance
doubles, thereby allowing plugging in many cases.
A variable-speed motor isn’t necessary, though it
can be beneficial in most dust collection systems. Most
systems operate at a constant speed and don’t need to
turn down by 25 or 50 percent during operation, as this
would proportionally reduce the airflow, velocity, or
does not impede particle capture. Conversely, with both, and possibly create plugging problems.
particles in the airstream in a dust collection system,
airflow restrictions can result in dust settlement in the Avoid plugging
duct work and lack of pickup at the hoods. While both Dust collection system plugging manifests itself in
methods can be implemented to create a usable dust many forms, such as in the duct, hopper, or filter. The
collection system, it’s important to note that the blast root causes of plugging in a system can be plentiful
gate method is more sensitive to the small details, as
adjustments to the gates can ruin system performance.
The one upside to the blast gate method is the ease FIGURE 3
of system engineering. However, the downsides to this
Centrifugal fans used for dust collection systems
approach are quite extensive given the opportunities
for poor system performance. In troubleshooting doz-
ens of dust collection systems where duct plugging Rotation
and buildup have been prevalent, experience finds the Outlet
typical root cause of the difficulties is with the blast
gates being too restrictive on airflow. Figure 2a and 2b
Inlet
illustrate the effects of a poor blast gate operation (with
manual control) and the resulting dust buildup and
plugging in the duct.

Select a proper air mover

The selection on an appropriate air mover is straight-
forward once the system resistance is determined2.
A fan or positive-displacement rotary blower are
typically used to provide the suction force for the dust
collection system. Air mover equipment suppliers
have performance curves available, often via an online
design tool, which demonstrate operating ranges for
the air mover under specified conditions such as sys-
tem resistance (which is the sum of the energy needed
to move air and solids through the pickup hoods,
branching, trunk lines, filter, and the fan), air tempera-
ture, fan blade speed, etc..
 Copyright CSC Publishing

FIGURE 4 FIGURE 5
a. Poor duct layout with a 90-degree entry to the line Preferred duct entry layouts and configurations to avoid

Preferred 30º Acceptable Avoid

Preferred Acceptable Avoid

Branch Entry

b. The resulting buildup inside the duct FIGURE 6

Preferred duct layout showing expansion in duct diameter
along length
Size for balance
and transport
velocity To fan

Collector

Branch
ducts

and include: part of a material recycling loop, for which the system
• Poor duct layout usually wasn’t originally designed to do. As a result,
• Overfeeding the dust collection line heavy solids loading in the line, often erratically intro-
• Leaks duced to the system, degrades system performance. If
• Buildup a feeder, such as a rotary airlock valve or screw feeder,
• Hopper design can be used to modulate the solids flowrate into the
Poor duct layout. There are many instances where the duct, then this can be a simple improvement to regulate
conveying velocity was correctly selected and the fan the feedrate and prevent plugging.3
and motor operated as required, but the dust didn’t Leaks. Leaks in a dust collection system can “rob
convey effectively through the duct. This is generally the system” of conveying energy and cause material
the result of too many elbows being placed in close settlement and buildup. Just like a leak in your house-
proximity to one another in the system and poor branch- hold wet-dry vac hose, the system’s dust collection
to-trunk layouts, as shown in Figures 4a and 4b. performance will degrade. Leaks can occur at duct or
As demonstrated in ACGIH, the branch entries to pipeline couplings, diverters, elbows where holes have
the trunk line, as well as throughout the duct layout, formed, blast gates, and in dust collector housings
are important, and 90-degree entries should be avoided. (especially at the maintenance doors). Leaks can be
In Figure 5, various branch entry layouts are shown, tested via use of talcum powder, helium tracing, or
labeled with how acceptable each is from a sound design noncombustible smoke around suspected leak points.
perspective. Furthermore, the duct diameter should be Buildup. Figure 7 shows a significant buildup prob-
expanding along its run to the dust collector to main- lem with resin pellets in a conveying line. The air alone
tain the minimum conveying velocity, a factor that’s moving through the system with the buildup exceeded
changing with the cumulative airflow gain caused by an the system resistance design condition, thereby
increase in pipe diameter. An example of this principle rendering dust collection impossible as solids were
is shown in Figures 6, where you can see appropriate introduced to the system. The buildup problem was a
branch entries and an increasing duct diameter. result of temperature-induced softening of the resin,
Overfeeding the line. Overfeeding of a dust collection allowing the material to fuse to the pipeline’s interior.
system can present problems because the additional This created increased friction and reduced the pipe-
material in the conveyor airstream increases system line’s diameter, which both significantly increased the
resistance, which then reduces airflow and velocity. system’s resistance to air and solids throughput.
Some designers will use a dust collection system as a Buildup in the ductwork can be addressed by var-
 Copyright CSC Publishing

FIGURE 7 FIGURE 8
Buildup in a conveying line a. Cyclone

Outlet
Centrifugal forces Dust-laden
pull heavier particles air inlet
to the wall Lighter particles
move towards
the center and
upwards
Plan view
Discharge
control valve

Discharge to process or waste

ious methods, including: periodic manual cleaning; b. Baghouse filter

Pulse jet pipe Compressed
“pigging,” whereby a semirigid projectile with flexible Clean air Nozzle or air supply
orifice
exhaust
ribs and brushes is sent through the ductwork; or dry
Venturi nozzle
ice chips are used, where the scouring action cleans the
duct and the dry ice evaporates, leaving no trace. At a Filter Cylinders
minimum, the ducts should be inspected quarterly to
Manometer Retainer
ensure buildup isn’t affecting the system performance Collector housing
or leaving residual combustible dust or other solids that Dust-laden
air
can allow dust explosion propagation to occur. Hopper
Hopper design. An often overlooked issue with dust Airlock
collection system operation is the plugging of the col-
Material discharge
lected material in the hopper attached to the filter-re-
ceiver. The following are possible problems that can c. Cartidge collector with dust filter canisters
arise when material builds up: From exhaust
system pickup point
Bridging: A no-flow condition in which material
forms a stable, arch-shaped obstruction over the outlet
Dust filter
of a hopper. canister
Ratholing: A no-flow–erratic-flow condition in which
material forms a stable open channel within the hopper.
If the dust or collected bulk solid is allowed to accu-
mulate in the hopper, and if the material is cohesive
(tends to stick to itself, especially when packed), then
these flow problems are likely to occur. These flow
problems are the result of a hopper discharging mate- prevented; and there are no stagnant regions, so dusts
rial in an undesirable flow pattern. The type of flow and powders won’t cake. Information about how to
pattern you choose for your dust collection hopper generate mass-flow designs for hoppers can be found
can directly influence the type of material flow perfor- in Andrew Jenike’s published bulletin on the subject4.
mance you’ll experience. Bridging and ratholing problems can often be
Unfortunately, the strong majority of standard-de- avoided in a dust collection hopper if the hopper is
sign collector hoppers can yield undesirable flow frequently emptied and the material isn’t allowed to
patterns with hard-to-handle materials since these accumulate. In some cases, controlled vibration applied
hoppers discharge bulk materials in a funnel flow to the hopper in a short burst (and not continuously)
pattern. With funnel flow, some material moves while or injecting pulsed air into the material or inert gas
the rest remains stationary. Most dust collector conical sweeps may be needed to dislodge the dust adhered to
hoppers are sloped at 60-degree angles or have a shal- the hopper walls. In those cases, it’s not ratholing, but
low pyramidal geometry that encourages stagnation in rather buildup of several inches of dust on the hopper’s
the corners (called valley angles). Though both of these wall surface that’s preventing proper mass flow.
hopper types are easy to build and have a relatively
low cost, they generally don’t allow reliable flow with Choose an appropriate dust collector
cohesive and adhesive (sticks to walls) bulk solids. The dust collector (also called an air-material separator)
Flow problems can be prevented with hoppers spe- performance can either make or break the entire dust
cifically designed to discharge materials in a mass-flow collection system. On one hand, a properly perform-
pattern. With mass flow, all material moves whenever ing dust collector will efficiently filter the particles
any is discharged. Flow is uniform and reliable due from the airstream, clean itself, discharge the solids
to the first-in, first-out flow sequence; ratholing is into a hopper, and (if applicable) allow proper airflow
 Copyright CSC Publishing

through its filter media, thereby maintaining proper

conveying velocities in the system and stable fan oper- TABLE 3
ation. On the other hand, poor dust collector perfor- Range of capture velocities for pickup hoods
mance can allow particles to bypass through the filter, Feature Balance by design Blast gate method
clogging and plugging, and substantially reduced air-
Air flow rate Not easily changed Easy to change
flow, rendering dust pickup and conveying ineffective.
There are many types of dust collectors, including Flexibility Low Moderate
cyclones, baghouses, and cartridge collectors. A cyclone, Wear and Minimal Common
as shown in Figure 8a, uses inertial effects to separate buildup
the solids from the airstream, while a baghouse, shown Plugging Unlikely Common
in Figure 8b, and a cartridge collector, as shown in Figure Installation Must follow design Some flexibility
8c use some form of physical filter media, like cloth, closely
synthetic fabrics, or even sintered metal to capture the
dust or solids; filter media is then cleaned by various
methods, with filter replacement occurring periodi- on grains per cubic foot of air (moisture), which is a
cally. A cyclone can be highly effective for separating parameter borrowed from HVAC design that is needed
large particles, such as wood chips, and can be useful for air conditioning design and airflow movement.
with separating streams with hot and abrasive bulk Be mindful though of using a pleated cartridge filter
solids because there are no moving parts or filters with sticky dusts as the dust can “bridge” between the
to damage. However, cyclones are limited when it pleats, preventing effective pulse-cleaning during the
comes to separating fine particles; for example, using a unit’s cleaning cycle. Furthermore, a pleated cartridge
cyclone for an air-dust mixture with a 5-micron aver- filter generally doesn’t flex like a bag filter, thus clean-
age particle size may not be highly practical because ing may not be as effective with hard-to-clean dusts.
the particles are too light, making centrifugal forces The type of filter material used will have a substan-
ineffective to separate the particles from the airflow. tial impact on the filter’s service life and performance.
Contrast that to a baghouse or cartridge collector with In general, the interstices between the fibers that make
a physical filter media where collection efficiencies can up the filter media are considerably larger than the
approach 99.99 percent with some technologies. particles to be collected. In filters with large pores, dust
When selecting a filter for your dust collector, there penetrates the surface of the media and fills the pores,
are many factors to consider. Here are some consider- forming a filter cake on the fabric surface, a mechanism
ations, listed from more to less important: temperature, known as depth filtration. In the absence of a filter cake
moisture, particle size, airstream chemistry, air-to-cloth on its surface, the filter media is unlikely to collect fine
ratio, combustibility, particle abrasiveness, and mechan- particulate efficiently. Instead, filter media blinding
ical factors (for example cleaning and installation). Table will take place and over time emissions will occur
4 provides a simple summary of filter media types con- when dust particles penetrate the filter.
sidering many of the previously listed factors. As you Filter media with small pores, such as Teflon-coated,
can imagine, the cost for the filters that can resist com- allow surface filtration, and particles are primarily col-
bustion, withstand high temperatures, and avoid dam- lected on the bag’s surface. There’s no dust penetration
age from acid or alkaline attack tend to cost the most. into or beyond the filter media itself, preventing emission
Baghouses and cartridge collectors must have suffi- risks. Bag filters can also be purchased with oleophobic
cient filter area to clean the dust-laden air. An import- or hydrophobic coatings to minimize heavy filter cake
ant parameter for determining the size of your dust buildup and dust adherence to the filter media.
collector is called the air-to-cloth ratio, which uses the Remember that complete filter cleaning is often not
collector’s air volume flowrate (cfm or m3/min) per fil- required because some dust cake on the filter improves
tration area (square feet or square meters). This result- filtration properties as the filter cake captures addi-
ing calculation is a foot-per-minute (meter-per-minute) tional dust and can prevent dust bypass to the fan. In
value and is referred to as the filter’s face velocity. Note: fact, some suppliers recommend a filter “seeding,” a
if working with metric units, be cautious with referring filter that’s pre-coated with powder that helps to build
to standard values reported in imperial units, as unit the initial dust cake and provide a filter coating with
conversions are important. neutral pH to avoid damage to the filter media from
For typical high or medium airflow reverse pulse acidic or alkaline dusts.
cleaning pressure baghouse or cartridge collectors, it’s When required, filter cleaning can be achieved
common to have an air-to-cloth ratio of 3 to 4.5 cfm through various methods including reverse airflow,
per square foot (0.9 to 1.4 m3/min per square meter) for shaking, and reverse high pressure pulse jets to
fine powders and dusts. With pleated cartridges, which dislodge the dust cake from the filters. With reverse
have significantly more surface area, the air-to-cloth airflow, a positive-displacement blower provides air-
ratio is nearly halved. This generally means the dust flow intermittently through the inside of the filters to
collector unit can be smaller in size than a baghouse. attempt to knock off the filter cake, whereas with a
Many filter suppliers will design the system based high-pressure pulse-jet cleaning system, a combination
 Copyright CSC Publishing

TABLE 4
Media type Poly-propylene Polyester Fiber-glass Aramid (Nomex) PTFE (Teflon)
Max. continuous operating 77º C / 170º F 135º C / 275º F 260º C / 500º F 204º C / 400º F 260º C / 500º F
temperature
Abrasion resistance Excellent Excellent Fair Excellent Good
Filtration properties Good Excellent Fair Excellent Good
Acid / alkaline attack Excellent Fair Fair Good Excellent
Combustion Yes Yes No No No

of a shock and pressure wave rapidly expands the bag • combustible dust (sugar, plastic, wood, metals, and
filter to shake off the dust. most carbon-containing dusts)
The cleaning cycle in a dust collector equipped with • oxidant (oxygen is present in most process areas)
a high-pressure pulse-jet cleaning system can be set by • ignition source (static discharge, hot surface, spark)
a timer on a particular frequency or done on-demand • dispersion (dust can be readily emitted from numerous
dictated by a set differential-pressure value between the sources)
clean-air and dirty-air plenums. For example, the system • confinement (dust collector housing, silo, dryer, mill,
can be set to initiate cleaning when it reaches a differen- grinding equipment)
tial pressure of 3 or 4 inches water gauge. Most cleaning Even if confinement is eliminated from the explo-
systems in a baghouse or cartridge collector use a dedi- sion pentagon, a dangerous flash fire deflagration event
cated solenoid at each row of filters within a dust collec- can still occur, causing major damage to property, inju-
tor’s housing that delivers jet-pulsed air into each filter ries, and possibly loss of life. This last point highlights
along the row. Cleaning of all the rows doesn’t usually the need for a proper dust collection system because
occur. Instead, the rows are cleaned progressively ,and without it, dust can accumulate around the factory and
the best practice is to alternate the bag or cartridge filter on horizontal surfaces, creating ample opportunity for
cleaning array to avoid blowing dirty dust onto “just a hazardous flash fire event.
cleaned” filters adjacent in the filter array. Excellent guidance for preventing and protecting
Filters can also be cleaned online (typical) or offline, against combustible dust hazards is available in sev-
where collection isn’t actively occurring. Another import- eral NFPA standards. I recommend reviewing NFPA
ant factor to consider in the filter selection and dust 652:Standard on the Fundamentals of Combustible Dust and
collector sizing process is the system’s can velocity, which then industry and design-specific NFPA standards,
is the speed of the dust-laden air as it passes upward including NFPA 664 (wood); NFPA 61 (food and agri-
to the level of the bag filters. If this value is beyond the culture); NFPA 484 (metals); and NFPA 68 (explosion
supplier’s recommended limits for the dust collector, then venting)7. Note that NFPA standards are adopted by
previously removed dust from the filters will be rapidly OSHA as consensus standards and can be mandated
pulled back onto the filters increasing filter cake buildup by an authority having jurisdiction (AHJ), such as a
and reducing airflow through the baghouse. plant owner, insurance provider, fire chief, or building
The interstitial can velocity is the velocity between the inspector8.
filters or the net cross-section of the projected filter area You must not ignore protecting your dust collector
and can be determined by taking the dirty airflow into from a potential combustible dust deflagration event as
the filter unit and taking that value and dividing by the collector provides the perfect conditions for a defla-
the projected filter area (from a plan view). With many gration, as indicated by the five ingredients previously
dusts, the interstital can velocity should be less than 150 listed. There are many methods to protect your equip-
fpm, and in some limited cases, a downflow dust col- ment and process through explosion containment,
lector is required because the dust is too light such as in isolation, suppression, and venting. NFPA 69 provides
processes dealing with tissue paper dust or fumed silica. excellent guidance for each of these approaches. PBE

Consider combustible dust hazards References

Did you know that about 50 percent of dust explosions 1. Industrial Ventilation, A Manual of Recommended
occur in dust collectors 5 ? Eckoff, a well-known dust Practice, 23rd Edition; 1998; American Conference of
explosion expert, estimates that at least 7 out of 10 dusts Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH), Cincin-
can be combustible. Many dusts can burn rapidly — nati, Ohio.
either in a flash fire or explosion scenario. Though most 2. Dust Control Handbook for Industrial Minerals Mining
people are aware of the hazards of flammable gases and and Processing; RI 9689/Report of Investigations,
liquids, some may not know the hazards of combustible Department of Health and Human Services, Centers
dusts in storage or dust collection equipment6. for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute
A dust explosion requires five key ingredients: for Occupational Safety and Health, Spokane, Wash-
 Copyright CSC Publishing

ington; 2012.
3. Maynard, E.P., Khambekar, J.V., “Proper feeding of
pneumatic conveying lines,” Powder & Bulk Engineer-
ing, July, 2011.
4. Jenike, A.W., “Storage and flow of solids,” Bulletin
123, Utah Engineering Experiment Station, Univ. of
Utah, Salt Lake City, UT (1964).
5. Eckhoff, R.K., “Dust Explosions in the Process Indus-
tries,” 2nd edition, Elsevier, 1997.
6. Maynard, E., “What is a Dust Hazards Analysis (DHA)
and why do I have to worry about it?” Australian Bulk
Handling Review, May/June 2018.
7. www.nfpa.org/652, NFPA 652, 2016 edition: Standard
on the fundamentals of combustible dust.
8. www.osha.gov/dsg/combustibledust/standards.html,
www.osha.gov/Publications/3371combustible-dust.
html

For further reading

Find more information on this topic in articles listed
under “Dust collection and dust control” in Powder and
Bulk Engineering’s comprehensive article index in the
December 2017 issue or the Article Archive on PBE’s
website, www.powderbulk.com (All articles listed in the
archive are available for free download to registered
users.)

Eric Maynard is vice president at Jenike & Johanson

Inc. ([email protected]). He’s been with the
company for 22 years and has worked on more than
750 projects, designing handling systems for materials
including chemicals, plastics, foods, pharmaceuticals,
coal, cement, and more. He’s also a principal instructor
for several AIChE bulk solids handling courses.
He holds a BS in mechanical engineering from
Villanova University in Pennsylvania and an MS in
mechanical engineering from Worcester Polytechnic in
Massachusetts.