Ball Mill Plant
Ball Mill Plant
Enhancing Airflow to Mitigate Fugitive Mining Dust Risk
The Challenge
Fugitive dust exposure is a major concern in any mineral processing facility. This is because inhaling airborne particles like silica dust, coal dust, or other fine powders, poses respiratory hazards for mine and quarry workers.
Recognizing the deficiencies in their current dust collection system, including poor ventilation, air leaks, and dust accumulation in the ducts, a ball mill plant customer approached C&W for a solution. The goal: to create a new system design that would effectively capture the dust generated by their ball mill operation and ensure a safe working environment for employees.
The C&W Solution
In collaboration with the customer’s plant personnel, we developed a comprehensive action plan to engineer a custom-designed dust collection system that would meet their needs. Retrofitting the existing dust collector, our engineers reworked the overall system design to achieve a dust transport velocity of up to 3,750 feet per minute. This was determined to be the optimal airflow velocity to ensure peak system performance. Three primary dust-generating sources were identified as key pickup points: the transfer conveyor, canopy hood, and auger connection.
With the appropriate airflow velocity and pickup points established, our dust collection team identified additional system updates to accelerate productivity.
- Redesigning the transfer conveyor to achieve upward capture velocity of 250 feet per minute.
- Modifying the canopy hood with flanges to help generate minimum capture velocity of 200 feet per minute.
- Incorporating new ducting flanges with a minimum thickness of 16ga on small duct runs and 12ga minimum on the main trunk line.
- Upgrading the existing dust collector with a new inlet box and abrasion bed.
- Enhancing the pulsing system with new timer boards, solenoids, tubing and repair kits.
- Repositioning the blower to align with the exhaust duct to the outside.
How It Works
The modifications to reach the target velocity of 3,750 feet per minute are ideal for moving the low-density dust from the ball mill. The new ducting design reduces horizontal runs and hard elbows to facilitate airflow, minimize leaks and allow heavier material to fall back to the hoods for easy removal by operators.
Results
The re-engineered airflow design advances customer goals including:
Creating a safe, breathable work environment for employees.
Lowering risk related to compliance with increasing silica dust regulations.
Capturing the abrasive ball mill dust to protect employees and surrounding equipment.
