A scrubber is a dust collector where the dust is caught
by water drops which are later on removed from the air stream. Many types exist, generally they have a low first cost, but high operating costs due to a high power consumption; the most efficient ones usually have the highest power requirements. 1.3. FABRIC FILTERS Fabric filters are usually made in the form of large vertical bags of fabric suspended from the roof of the filter casing as shown in Figure 2. When the air passes through the fabric, most of the dust is deposited on the fabric surface. The bags are cleaned at legular intervals by reversing the air stream or shaking the bags. The dust then falls down in the hopper in the form of large agglomerates. A breakage of one filter bag will cause a large increase in the dust emission. How DUST-ABATEMENT IN THE CEMENT INDUSTRY MARTIN FUREVIK F. L. Smidth & Co A/S, Environmental Technology Division, Copenhagen, Denmark Abstract. In the cement industry the dust control equipment is integrated in the manufacturing process, therefore it is especially important in this industry. Dust problems arising during cement manufacturing and handling and storing of materials are accounted for as well as the four main types of filters - cyclones, scrubbers, fabric filters, and electrostatic precipitators. Without suitable dust control equipment, large dust emissions will occur at several stages in the conversion of limestone and clay into Portland cement. The dust problems are so large that 5-10% of the total cost of a new cement plant will have to be spent on measures for the prevention of air pollution. However, in the cement industry the dust control equipment is integrated in the manufacturing process. Without dust filters 20-30% of the production would be lost, and one can imagine what that would mean to the production costs. But admittedly, keeping up with most emission regulations makes it necessary with more efficient (and more expensive) filters than pure economic considerations would lead to. It is here the intention, first to describe the four main types of filters and then show how they are applied in the cement industry. 1. Dust Collectors 1.1. CYCLONES Cyclones (Figure 1) are the simplest and cheapest type of dust collector commonly used. Their operation is normally troublefree, and the main operating cost is the power required to overcome the pressure drop of the cyclone. This is usually in the range 50-150 mm WG. The dust-laden air enters through a tangential inlet, and a powerful vortex is created in the cyclone. The strong centrifugal force pulls the dust out of the vortex and towards the wall. The dust then moves to the conical outlet while the clean air leaves by the central outlet. Large cyclones are efficient in removing dust larger than 10-30 p,m. A higher dust collection efficiency may be obtained by using a multicyclone, which is a parallel arrangement of several small cyclones (0.15-0.30 m0). The centrifugal force is greater in multicyclones than in large cyclones, because the radius is smaller, and the efficiency is therefore higher; most of the particles larger than 3-5 p,m are collected. Most multicyclones ale, howevel, more prone to wear than large cyclones, and they also have a tendency to plug when the dust concentration is high.