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Dust Control Handbook for Industrial Minerals Mining and Processing

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A filter fabric becomes more efficient, or achieves a higher MERV rating, by its ability tocapture particles by interception, impaction, diffusion, <strong>and</strong> electrostatic charge. Distinctionsamong these capture processes are as follows:Interception occurs with smaller-sized particles that follow the airstream flow lines <strong>and</strong>come within one particle radius of a fabric fiber, then adhere to the fabric.Impaction occurs with larger particles that are not able to stay on airstream flow contours,travelling through the filter media <strong>and</strong> then embedding into one of the fibers directly.The amount of impaction increases with higher airflow velocities <strong>and</strong> with decreasingdistances between the fibers.Diffusion occurs when the smallest dust particles collide with gas molecules, especiallythose smaller than 0.1 μm, <strong>and</strong> then alter their flow path so that they are captured byeither interception or impaction.With electrostatic collection, the filter fabric is made from a fabric material or media thatis able to sustain an electrical charge. Because dust particles also have an electricalcharge, as they pass through the filter fabric, they are attracted to <strong>and</strong> adhere to the fabricmaterial.Filter fabrics are constructed of either natural or man-made fibrous material <strong>and</strong> are either wovenor nonwoven. Woven fabrics are normally identified by a weight per unit area as well as athread count. Nonwoven fabrics are also identified by the weight per unit area, but typicallyinclude a filter thickness classification. Nonwoven material is usually more efficient than wovenfabric of the same thickness because the open areas or pores are smaller. It is important to notethat, from a dust collection st<strong>and</strong>point, any type of filter fabric can be made more efficient or begiven a higher MERV rating, simply by the use of smaller fiber diameters, the inclusion of agreater weight of fibers per unit area, or by the fibers being packed more tightly.With any filter fabric, the efficiency or MERV rating improves as the filter <strong>for</strong>ms a filter dustcake. After the initial collection by one of the methods described above, as particle collectioncontinues, a layer of dust particles <strong>for</strong>ms on the fabric material <strong>and</strong> this layer then becomes theprincipal collection medium. As more dust particles continue to impinge on the previouslycollected particles, this dust filter cake continues to grow. Over a period of time, this dust filtercake will grow to such an extent that it will become increasingly difficult <strong>for</strong> the air molecules topass through the fabric material, <strong>and</strong> this is evidenced by an increasing pressure differentialacross the filter. Once this pressure reaches a certain level, the dust filter cake needs to beremoved from the filter fabric by some type of mechanical process (such as by a shaker, reverseair, or reverse jet process, described earlier).Particulate Collection of FabricsThere are two methods <strong>for</strong> collecting particulate on fabrics. The first is depth loading. Thismeans that the fabric depends on a filter cake to optimize collection efficiencies. The second issurface loading, meaning that the fabric does not depend on a filter cake to obtain maximumcollection efficiencies.Felted fabrics are depth loaded. Polyesters, polypropylene, aramids, <strong>and</strong> similar fabrics rely onthe ability of the dust collection system to develop <strong>and</strong> maintain a dust cake or filter cake at all46 Fundamentals of <strong>Dust</strong> Collection Systems

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