There are various types of industrial dust found inside manufacturing, packaging, loading and storage units. Although the severity will vary depending on what kind of dust you are dealing with, any type of industrial/agricultural dust can be harmful to human beings, post exposure in large quantities. Today, we are going to take a brief look at the technology that makes it possible to safely filter, collect and clean all kinds of hazardous dust particles.

Cyclonic Dust Separators

Cyclonic dust separators use centrifugal force and gravitational pull to separate solid dust particles from air and gas. While there might be variations of the same, the device usually has two differently sized concentric cylinders, with the smaller one being fitted inside the bigger one. Only the outer (bigger) concentric cylinder has a coned bottom which acts as an exit for the particulates, while the inner cylinder is fitted up top with a gas outlet.

Air containing dust is forced at high speeds through a spiraling inlet near the top (on the side), allowing the concentric structure of the apparatus itself to create cyclonic formations inside. The consequent centrifugal force hurls the dust particles out of the cyclonic formations, where they are pulled down through the cone by gravity. While the technology isn’t new, what is amazing is how much more efficient today’s multicyclone dust separators are against a variety of particulates.

Antistatic Filters

Antistatic filters are found inside industrial vacuum cleaners designed to clean explosive and combustible dust safely. The idea behind using them is to prevent combustible and explosive dust particles from igniting during the cleanup process. This is achieved through the prevention of electrostatic charge buildups and moisture retention/addition for easy electrical conduction. It should be noted that ESD filters do the exact opposite, and they can never be used when dealing with combustible dust.

HEPA Filtration Systems

High-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) systems consist of a depth filter constructed from randomly arranged, entangled fiberglass or polypropylene fibers (0.5 – 2.0 micrometers). As air is made to pass through the narrow and uneven passage in between the fibers, almost all particulates are trapped by the fibers. While the larger dust particles are caught automatically by simple interception and impaction, the smaller particulates (<0.3 μm) are caught by the fibers via Brownian diffusion.

Wet Dust Collectors

These use water or any other applicable liquid to collect industrial dust particles. Dust particles come into contact with the liquid, forming easy to collect agglomerates (sludge). Once the agglomerate grows heavy enough, it drops down into the collection unit for easy disposal. Similar to antistatic filters found in industrial vacuum cleaners, they are also ideal for preventing the ignition of combustible or metallic dust particles. The wet dust collection systems are more prevalently found in worksites that produce a lot of aluminum, magnesium, titanium, or zirconium dust.

This was only an introduction of course, and if you wish to know more about indoor air quality maintenance technology used at industrial sites, check out the official US Environmental Protection Agency website for more information. After all, there’s more technology at work here to keep the air breathable and safe than just filtration.