BTR Environmental's DCE collector cleans up at ROTEC Chemicals

Citation

(1998), "BTR Environmental's DCE collector cleans up at ROTEC Chemicals", Pigment & Resin Technology, Vol. 27 No. 6. https://doi.org/10.1108/prt.1998.12927fad.001

BTR Environmental's DCE collector cleans up at ROTEC Chemicals

BTR Environmental's DCE collector cleans up at ROTEC Chemicals

Keywords Dust, Filtration

A high efficiency DCE dust collection system from BTR Environmental Ltd is reported to be ensuring vital health, safety and contamination control for pigment manufacturer, Rotec Chemicals Ltd (Plate 1).

"With the critical importance of effective dust control in safeguarding employee health and safety, in meeting today's and tomorrow's environmental standards as well as in maximising product quality, we needed to be confident that the system we chose for the job would be able to get it right first time" says Rotec Chemicals, operations manager, Dave Mitchell. "DCE branded equipment has a proven track record of success in specialist chemical dust control applications and, for this project, has proved the ideal high efficiency solution."

Plate 1 A high efficiency DCE dust collection system from BTR Environmental Ltd

Rotec Chemicals compounds and masterbatches raw material pigments and dyes to specific customer formulations for use in a diverse range of plastic products. Without an effective dust extraction system, not only is employee health put at risk, but so is production quality through the risk of cross-contamination of colours at various blending and extrusion points in the process.

With plans to expand production capacity, Rotec Chemicals realised the need to upgrade their dust collection plant to meet the resulting increase in air volume and contacted BTR Environmental for advice. The company has extensive experience in chemical dust control and advised Rotec Chemicals on the best solution for its needs. BTR Environmental then supplied and installed a DCE Sintamatic Concept S 300 dust filter at the company's plant. Operating at an air volume rate of 23,344m³/hr, this extracts contaminated air from 13 different points within the factory, drawing it through ductwork to pass through a three bank, three tier-filter system. This dimensionally compact configuration ensures a large filtration area of 297m² and, combined with the use of Sintamatic filter elements, guarantees optimum filtration performance.

Sintamatic polymer filtration media elements are manufactured from a blend of granulated polymers and coated in a PTFE-based solution. According to BTR this creates an incredibly resilient, self-rigidised element, highly resistant to acids, alkalis and abrasion and providing near absolute filtration performance as standard. Continuous operation of the filter system is said to be assured by the units electronically controlled automatic reverse jet cleaning system.

The DCE system at Rotech also offers heat recovery to reduce plant energy costs. Rather than being vented to the outside, clean air is instead returned into the factory environment once it has passed through the high efficiency filtration system. Waste product is collected in the unit's two dust containers for easy removal and disposal. Fully complying with the latest COSHH regulations, installation at Rotec Chemicals was completed in May 1998.

Designed to operate within a temperature range of 10-60°C, the DCE Sintamatic Concept range consists of over eight different filters, suitable for a wide variety of arduous dust control applications in the handling, processing and storage of bulk material and powders. Filters are easy to maintain allowing clean side element removal as standard to ensure straightforward replacement and minimal dust contact. Filtration areas vary from the smallest two bank, two-tier system at 105m² to the S 300 at 297m². A choice of four configuration options are available ­ dust container, skip, screw conveyor and rotary valve ­ to suit particular appplication requirements.

BTR Environmental Ltd provides a single integrated source of system, product and service support for all types of industrial air and liquid filtration. Brands include DCE, VOKES, NAFCO, REFILCO, Neotechnik and Hoffman Air Filtration. In addition to the UK, BTR Environmental currently has operations in North America, Australia, South Africa, Spain, Benelux, Denmark, Sweden, France, Germany, Japan, Indonesia, Malaysia and China. Sintamatic elements are manufactured under licence from Herding.

For further information contact BTR Environmental. Tel: +44 (0) 116 269 6161; Fax: +44 (0) 116 269 3028; E-mail:environment@btrinc.com