PRELIMINARY ENGINEERING ON A VENTILATION NETWORK AND DUST COLLECTOR OF A WAREHOUSE IN A FERROSILICON FOUNDRY (GA6)

ISSUE

A ferrosilicon smelter operates a warehouse to store different grades of finished products before their shipment by trucks. During material transfer operations to and from storage, large amounts of dust are generated in the surrounding air.

The dust clouds that form inside the warehouse drastically reduce the visibility, which creates health and safety risks to workers and requires at times the temporary shutdown of operations in the warehouse while the cloud dissipates.

TECHNOLOGICAL CHALLENGE

Identify and evaluate various ventilation and dust collection technologies that could be implemented to solve the visibility problem inside the warehouse.

Determine the ventilation system needs and the dust collector equipment sizing to ensure an optimal operation and a secure system.

RECOMMENDED SOLUTION

Four ventilation and dust removal alternatives were evaluated during this study to resolve the problem of visibility inside the warehouse. For each alternative, the main equipment of the ventilation/dust collection system were preliminary sized; this included the ductwork, fan, dust collector, fire & explosion prevention system, instrumentation, etc...

Finally, an estimate of the capital expenditure (CAPEX) and installation costs of each alternative was made to identify the best solution for this application in terms of cost and life cycle.

RESULTS

Following the analysis of the four alternatives, the combination of a push & pull ventilation system and a multi-cyclone was selected, in terms of cost and robustness, as the configuration best suited for this application. Preliminary sizing of the push & pull ventilation equipment, of the multi-cyclone and of the fire and explosion prevention corresponding to this alternative has also been realized.