Dust is often a major problem in many different industries: coal dust from the air at loading facilities, asphalt dust during concrete production, heavy iron ore dust at iron mines, sugar dust, and more. The latter is a major nuisance for the sugar industry as it causes a substantial loss in revenue due to the loss of the final product in the form of sugar dust. Additionally, sugar particles in the atmosphere lead to a layer of sugar granules on various surfaces, potentially interfering with the production process.
The common way to remove dry sugar dust from the air is with dry dust collectors, like baghouse filters and cartridge filters. However, the use of these systems is not the ideal solution for sugar dust scrubbing and possesses numerous disadvantages:
- Explosion potential
The presence of dry dust in the air increases the risk of combustion as it acts as fuel for an explosion. Other elements necessary for an explosion are an enclosure, dispersion, oxygen, and an ignition source. The ignition source may be provided by a production process in the form of a spark, by construction work in the form of a welding or grinding spark, or by a careless worker in the form of a cigarette; the other factors are present inside the dry dust collector. The environment inside the baghouse or cartridge filters creates the perfect conditions for the combustion to occur. Sugar dust carries a static charge and can arc inside the air chamber, which causes ignition.
The explosions that are a result of the sugar dust presence in the air are not a rare occasion – the incidents occur often enough for government regulations to be broadened.
- High temperatures
Generally, dry dust collectors are not well suited for high-temperature gases and require additional adjustments during the design process, which adds to the initial cost of the dry dust collector.
- Moisture in the gas stream
If the gas contains water steam, dry dust collectors get clogged and eventually shut down due to the build-up of the pollutant particles.
Wet air scrubbers can overcome all of the downfalls of the traditional dry dust collectors as they do not create the environment in which combustion might occur; wet air scrubbers can handle the high temperatures of the inlet gas stream. Most wet air scrubbers suffer from clogging due to the sludge that is created after the sugar dust mixes with water. This mixture is extremely sticky and causes build-up inside the chamber and stops the scrubbing process. Scroiler™, on the other hand, can process sugar dust without being clogged due to the high speeds of microturbulence vortices that are used to scrub the inlet gas. Tests show that Scroiler™ can handle 250 g. of sugar per 1 liter of water without any issues.
A new type of wet air scrubber, Scroiler™ cleans air from gases, dust, vapors and other admixtures using water or other cleaning liquid. Scroiler™ produces the cleaning mist differently from other scrubber systems, which results in running costs that are much lower than for a common wet air scrubber. Scroiler™ is the new type of wet air scrubber that saves water.
If you are interested in Scroiler™, please contact us at info@optromix.com