Industrial dust systems filter, separate, and capture airborne contaminants produced in factories, manufacturing plants, foundries, and other similar facilities. They’re essential in preventing health hazards to employees, deflagration, and explosion in the workplace. However, the types of pollutants differ by industry, so specialised dust extraction systems are required. Within industrial production environments, two primary systems are used: dry and wet dust collectors. Explore the key differences between these two systems and their optimal applications below, with insights from the Mideco team.  

What is Dry Dust Extraction?

The more popular of the two systems, dry dust extractor work by pushing air through filters and cartridges to extract dust particles. They typically come in the form of cyclone or media collectors, like baghouses or high-efficiency cartridge collectors. 

Cyclone collectors are excellent for separating heavier particles from the air, and are often installed as pre-cleaners for larger baghouse systems. The latter, in this case, are designed to filter more abrasive particles, fine powders, air pollutants, acid gases, fumes, and airborne toxic materials. 

To keep a continuous filtering process, dry dust extractors discharge the absorbed dust into a hopper, which is then emptied into a storage drum. This drum must be manually and regularly emptied when full.

Dry dust collectors are often used in industries such as food processing, coal processing, quarries, steel and iron foundries, asphalt, power generation and energy plants, chemical and paint manufacturing, and the like.

 

What is Wet Dust Extraction?

For dust that is fine, sticky, or combustible, wet dust extractors or wet scrubbers are required. The particles in these are too small or adhesive for dry dust collectors. Additionally, wetting the dust mitigates the risk of combustion, making wet systems ideal for environments where metal sawing, grinding, polishing, buffing, sanding, and abrasive blasting occur. 

Although there are different kinds of wet dust collector systems, they often function similarly. The machine extracts dust and contaminants from the air and exposes them to a water stream or spray that scrubs the particles. Once wet, gravity causes the particles to settle and collect in a sludge tank.

 

Which Dust Extraction System Do You Need?

The choice between dry and wet dust extraction systems often depend on the type of dust produced, the manufacturing process, and the individual needs of a facility. Key considerations for making an informed decision include:

 

Type of Dust

Wet dust collector systems are often preferred for managing combustible dust, such as metal dust. Wetting these particles ensure that even if there is an ignition source present, there is no dry dust or dust cloud that could ignite. 

While dry extraction systems can be used to filter this kind of dust, they require additional safety devices, especially with the risk of deflagration. This includes fire-retardant filters and spark traps that will help prevent fires. 

 

Particle Size

Dry systems are more efficient at collecting and filtering very fine particles, with sizes down to .3 microns. These kinds of particles often come from welding, plasma, and laser cutting, which produce particulate metal fumes. In contrast, most wet systems struggle to effectively isolate and gather small particles. 

 

Maintenance and Disposal

The maintenance needs between these two systems are relatively similar. In dry systems, the old filers and accumulated dust need to be manually disposed of. In wet systems, water cleanliness must be maintained, and the resulting sludge requires disposal. However, sludge from wet systems needs to be dried and mixed with other materials to make it safer for handing and disposal.

Dust extractor systems are critical components to have for manufacturing companies. However, it’s important to get the right extractor that meets the needs of the production to ensure maximum safety and an optimal process for years to come. 

At Mideco, we offer high quality dust extraction products and services for various applications and industries. To learn more about them, contact us today! We’ll be happy to talk you through your options.