Control and Management of Particulate Emissions using Improved Reverse Pulse-Jet Cleaning Systems

The control of particulate emissions from various applications such as power generation, cement plants, minerals processing etc. is essential to meet government regulatory standards. Filter bags and cartridge elements are typical common mediums used to separate particulates. A common method used to clean filters in the extraction of particulate matter from a fluid stream, is Reverse Pulse-Jet (RPJ) cleaning systems. The operation of the RPJ cleaning system relies on stored energy in the form of compressed gas, which is usually air. In this paper, the design and application of an efficient cleaning system to minimise the use of compressed gas to achieve the required filter cleaning is described. In an RPJ cleaning system, a high-energy pulse of compressed gas is delivered into the filter medium to rapidly increase the internal pressure and, in the case of filter bags, accelerate the filter material to force the break-up of dust cakes that form on the filter surface. One key component of the cleaning system is an extremely fast acting valve that controls the flow of the high pressure gas, the other is the blowtube. The blowtube is a commercial steel pipe with a number of outlet orifices distributed along the longitudinal axis and centrally located above each filter. The cleaning system improvements have been achieved by advances in valve and blowtube design that have enabled increases in the peak pressures developed in the filters whilst minimising the response rate of the system to decrease the air consumption. The store of potential energy must be effectively and efficiently converted into kinetic energy to utilise the available energy to build pressure in the filter. Thus, by improving the RPJ cleaning system the operating costs associated with the compressors are reduced thereby decreasing the environmental impact of operating filter cleaning systems, to more efficiently remove particulate matter from fluid streams.