Cement plants offer particularly difficult challenges to dust collectors. When cement dust is dry, it’s just like any other dust and can be filtered, but when moisture is introduced, the cement dust cakes up on the filter media and hardens into crusty chunks.

At this major facility in the United Kingdom, the Dalamatic® Insertable (DLMV), installed at the head of the bucket elevator, vents the elevator casing and cement discharge point. While the finished cement is dry, large quantities of water are injected into the mill to cool the mill shell and lower the finished temperature of the cement. The high temperatures and high humidity were causing short filter life—only 3 months on the polyester oleophobic bags, and even the more expensive PTFE-coated filter bags lasted only 6 months.

Donaldson® Torit® Dura-Life™ filter bags proved to be a better solution, yielding effective filtration for 9 months—3 times longer than standard polyester bags! By operating at a lower pressure drop the cleaning system was better able to pulse cement off the bags. The happy maintenance manager said, “the filter bag life surpassed my expectations!”

Inside the cement plant, the Dalamatic dust collector vents the elevator casing and cement discharge point.

The Dalamatic DLMV is versatile because it inserts into tight spaces where normal dust collectors don’t fit.