E-108 Engineering Bulletin

June 15, 2006 (800) 267-5585

(updated 9/30/10) Dust Collector Evaluation and Selection Guide www.qamanage.com

It is important to select the best type of filter elements for your pulse jet dust collector. The user has a dazzling array of
choices. The choice may well affect process operation for many years as well as the cost of operation, pressure drop,
filter element life, efficiency of collection and compressed air usage during operation.

Use the “Specific Applications” table, annexed at the end, to guide you with your dust collector selection.

(Mechanical Cleaning) Shaker Dust Collectors

In general shaker collectors can be applied to almost any application where it is possible to clean collectors off line
either by isolating with a damper(s) or stopping the exhaust fan to clean the collectors. They are limited on the dust
concentration they can handle. We would generally say less than 5 grains per cubic feet. Another thing to remember is
often off line cleaning for pulse collectors is an option. “Shakers” are applied most definitely for some crystalline dusts
such as glass, ceramics, quartz and some plastics, where, when pulsed, the cake is blown apart and reverts to un-
agglomerated fractions. These should be covered in separate application bulletins.

Types of Pulsed Reverse Jet Collectors

Generally, the collectors are divided into two categories; fabric (baghouse) and cartridge (pleated filter). It used to be a
matter of whether the media was pleated or not pleated. Or it used to be a matter of filter media itself. Now this
distinction has blurred. Some new pleated fabric media are applied to cartridge collector designs while pleated media
construction is applied to replacement filters on existing fabric collectors.

For purposes of this dust collector guide we must redefine the categories to include new technical breakthroughs in
construction, media, media construction and uses. In order to make this distinction, we will consider all pulse cleaned
collectors as having pleated media. An old collector with cylindrical bags would be considered to have pleats that are
equal to the circumference of the bags with a zero pleat depth. With this definition in mind we can define the collectors
and their application as being separated by the characteristics of the pleat shape.

Category 1; Cylindrical Filter Elements (i.e. Baghouses)

These cylindrical element dust collectors are further divided into two distinct designs, category 1A and category 1B.

Category 1A; Conventional Technology cylindrical bag collector

These reverse jet configurations, developed in the early 1960s, were characterized by venturi like cylinders and
modified cones that fit into the exit openings of the bags. The technology, with close to one million installations
worldwide, have dominated pulse cylindrical filter element dust collectors for almost 50 years and continued to be
specified by most engineers and contractors. Originally, they were specified to run at filter ratios of up to 14 [volume
as CFM per bag divided by square foot area of the filter element]. However, subsequent changes in reverse jet design
in 1969 altered the jet characteristics which resulted in the filter ratio reduction to less than half of the original values.
The filter ratio reductions were an effort to extend filter element life beyond 24 months on typical applications. The
1969 design also ran at pressure drops of 4.5 to 6.5 inches water gauge, which was up from 3.5 to 4.0. Compressed
air usage is was doubled from the pre-1969 designs. The post-1969 designs also and dust penetrations three to four
times higher than the original designs. The post-1969 designs owned their deterioration in performance to the high
velocity cleaning jet which was increased by 70%. Since the velocity of the dust leaving the bag during a cleaning
pulse is proportional to the jet velocity, the dust was propelled against the adjoining rows of bags in the filtering mode .
This high velocity cleaning mechanism caused the filter cake to have lower permeability and increased "bleeding" of
dust after each cleaning pulse. The dust that bled through the bags was primarily the finer components. Bag life was
shortened and the filter ratio was further lowered by the specifying engineers to extend filter element life. As a further
demonstration of this design principle, very low density dusts such as foam and paper dust can be collected at low
pressure drops in high efficiencies if upward can velocities are very low or high inlets are applied.

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Category 1B; Advanced Technology reverse jet configurations for cylindrical bag collectors
These reverse jet configurations, first developed in 1978, were upgraded in 1982 and again 2004 by ULTRA-FLOW.
The flow and velocity characteristics of the cleaning jet are modified to develop and maintain a more efficient porous
filter cake, that operates at half the pressure drop, lower compressed air usage, as well as higher collection efficiencies
and longer filter element life than the conventional technology designs. Cleaning jet velocities were reduced and flow
volumes of the cleaning air jet was increased beyond levels used in the pre-1969 conventional designs. The jet
volume was increased to allow more filtering volume per bag. The Venturi tubes were eliminated so that maximum
filtering capacity was tied to filter element bag opening area (usually bag diameter). The pressure drops were reduced
to 1.5 to 2.5 inches water gauge for an overwhelming majority of applications. The dust penetration was reduced by
70 to 90%. Bag life was increased by at least 200%. While compressed air consumption was decreased by at least
200%. Because of the increase collection of the finer dusts, due to the gentle yet powerful cleaning action, inlet and
associated gas and dust distribution had to be modified to eliminate or drastically reduce can velocity in order to allow
these finer dust components to fall into the collection Hopper. There are also some revolutionary yet well documented
arrangements to allow Hopper inlets to accomplish very low can velocities.

Category 2; Pleated Filter Elements (i.e. cartridge style dust collector)

These filter elements have pleats which eliminate the main disadvantage of the type 1A conventional cylindrical bag
filter collectors described above. The jet velocities can be higher or lower. During the cleaning cycle the dust ejected
from the filtering surface is propelled toward the opposite side of the pleat solar filter cake is maintained porous and
with the low pressure drop regardless of the reverse jet velocity. When properly designed pressure drop in
performance is similar to category 1B performance. These pleated elements can be classified into one of two sub
categories. Figure 1 illustrates category 2A, type NA and category 2B type WA filter elements.

WA
NA

Figure 1
Category 2A; (NA) Filter Elements with narrow angle pleat angles
Narrow angle pleated filter elements are those whose pleat configurations are such that where much the dust captured
by the filter element will not flow freely into the hopper from between the pleats propelled by the force of gravity.
Bridging may occur with many granular dusts. The best application for Category 2A filter element self cleaning
collectors is on application where the filter cake is 1/64th of an inch or thinner. These are ideal for application where
extremely fine dusts, like fume are collected. When applied to other dusts where the thickness of the cake causes the
dust to bridge across the bottom of the pleat, the area of the filter element is no longer cleaned so it is no longer active.
This may reduce the active filter media to as low as 15% of the area in the pleat. The effective filter in a pulse jet
collector can be defined as the cleanable area. The other limitation of a Category 2A is that the collector must be
cleaned frequently enough to prevent the dust cake bridge to increase if the load is too high. It is often susceptible to
temporary failures of the cleaning systems or unexpected surges in dust load. The cleaning system must be set at a
frequency that will keep it stable at the highest anticipated dust loads. For instance a collector with an anticipated load
of 20 grains per cu. ft. must be able to handle that load and not set to an average load of half that level. This can also
be accomplished by a pressure switch control when set properly. (That discussion is beyond the scope of this paper)

Category 2B; (WA) Filter Elements with wide pleat angles.

This filter element can be freely be applied in what we consider the WA category. There is no sharp definition of the
pleat angle. What makes a filter element fall into the WA category is that, if the cleaning system is suitable to its
configuration, it will be able to be recovered by off line pulse jet cleaning to a pressure drop that is essentially the same
as the initial pressure drop when the collector has a new filter element change. In figure 1, we have the range of
offerings by a particular supplier with pleat spacing 1/4inch wide at the outside compared to his offering with the most
pleats per inch of 0.25 inches. It is quite obvious that the wider pleat spacing will allow the dust to freely fall vertically
into the hopper for most dusts. If we use a filter element length of 40 inches it will have a filter area of approximately 19
sq ft. which would be approximately the filter area of a 12 foot long by six inch diameter bag. We can look at cylindrical
bags as a wide angle filter element with a pleat width equal to the circumference of the bag. WA filter elements can be
interchanged in most applications if the cleaning system is sufficient to clean opposed to the dirty gas flow through the
filter element. This applies to granular free flowing dusts or powders with filter cake thicknesses of less than 1/16th of
an inch.

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Other Considerations for Cartridge Dust Collectors
Advanced pleated filter technology has allowed us to increase filter flow per size of cartridge. Formerly, the limitation
on application was to be able to use all of the filter media to filter the dust. Even spreading the pleats widely apart was
only an improvement rather than a solution. When a pleat, with conventional media, is placed under pressure across
the filter element, the pleat collapses and squeezes together so that media on the filtered side is no longer in service.
This squeezing has several direct and indirect effects:
1. The pressure drop goes up and squeezes even more of the media and the additional pressure drop disables a
larger percentage of the media in the filter element.
2. This decrease in effective media decreases the quantity of dust that can be stored in the element between
cleanings. To compensate for this effect, the cleaning frequency is increased to keep the pressure drop stable.
3. Since the dust penetration through the filter element is a direct function of the cleaning frequency, the
collection efficiency will be reduced by up to 90%, especially in applications with varying dust loading.
The latest advanced technology, we have developed, is the media that is applied has sufficient resiliency (or
springiness) to prevent any squeezing or pinching of the pleats. The new media allows the cartridges even to recover
from failures of the cleaning system where a presumably plugged filter element can recover completely within a few
off-line cleaning cycles. Another innovation is a tandem pleat with a stiff backing, to prevent pinching. This in effect
allows us to have a permanent re-cleanable filter that can be washed manually in a laundry tub. Be the first in your
company to take advantage of this technology. We can usually supply retrofit cartridges to bring an older conventional
dust collector into the 21st century.

Factors affecting Maximum gas flow rate through either Category 1 or Category 2 self
cleaning pulse jet collectors
Pressure drop is a basic concern as it affects power consumption in exhaust fans, compressed air consumption and
indirectly cleaning system design. Disregarding the cleaning system considerations, if we double the air flow through a
filter element the pressure drop across the filter element will increase by two to four times. Four times the value occurs
when the initial pressure drop is over 2 inches w.c.

Figure 2
Cleaning air volume is critical. It is obvious that the cleaning jet must have sufficient air volume and pressure to:
1. Stop the process flow through the filter element
2. Increase the reverse flow to a flow more than the filtering process flow. If this reverse air flow is equal to the filter
flow, the resistance in the reverse direction is the same as the forward direction. There is no pressure to blow the
dust from the filter element surface. By increasing cleaning flow further the pressure drop and flow in the reverse
direction can clean the filter element.
The ratio of reverse air flow to filtering flow must be high enough to develop a pressure in the cleaning jet higher than
the operating pressure drop across the filter element. Effective designs require this cleaning ratio to be between 3:1
and 5:1. It can be noted that air to cloth ratio does not enter into selecting this value.

The total permeability of the filter media and the operating cake must be low enough to allow the cleaning jet to clean
the filter element. This value is affected by the filter ratio of the filter element and permeability of the filter media. As a
general rule of thumb for cylindrical or Category 1 filters, the filter ratio is limited to the same value as the permeability
of the basic media. For instance a laminated media with a permeability of 12 cannot operate at more than 12:1 filter
ratio. The typical felted media with a permeability of 18-21 can operate at filter ratios up to 18:1. This assumes that the
design of the element allows all of the element to be cleaned. The filter element must be de-rated by the portion of the
media that can not be cleaned by the cleaning system.
Category 2 (NA) collectors with thick filter cakes are deceptive. If the permeability of the media is 15, and the
cleanable media area is 20% of total filter area, the maximum operating filter ratio would be 20% times 15 or 3:1.
Category 1A collectors, with cylindrical shape filter elements, can be limited in filter ratio if the cleaning action of the
cleaning jet is so violent that it drives dust into the adjoining filter elements. This increases the cake permeability and
raises the pressure drop to high levels even at low filter ratios. These cleaning systems are flawed.

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Operating Permeability of Different Types of Self Cleaning Collectors

The maximum operating permeability is without a filter cake. In the examples below we assumed that the media had a
permeability of 18-20 and all media considered had the same permeability. Several categories will be compared below.

Category 1A Cylindrical bag with conventional cleaning system, 9.5 sq.ft of media in a 4 inch diameter filter
element by 96 inches long, 1.87 inch diameter venturi, at 57 CFM per bag and filter ratio of 6:1.
Total operating pressure drop 4 inches w.c.
Pressure drop across venturi 0.6 inch w.c.
Pressure drop across media 3.4 inches
Operating permeability of cake + media = 1.7

Category 1B Cylindrical bag with Ultra-Flow advanced technology cleaning system, 9.5 sq. ft of media 4 inch
diameter filter element, operating at a filter ratio of 18:1 and 177 CFM per bag.
Total operating pressure drop 2 inches w.c.
Pressure drop across mouth of bag O.70 inche w.c.
Pressure drop across media 1.3 inch w.c.
Operating permeability of cake plus media = 13.8

Category 2A type NA cartridge collector with 14 pleats per inch, 26 inch long, 13.25” OD, 8.25” ID, 362 pleats
260 sq. ft of media, 350 cfm per filter element. Estimated cleanable area above the bridges within the pleats 30-
40 sq. ft. Use 35 sq. ft for calculations
Total pressure drop 3.0 inches
Estimated cleanable media 35 q. ft.
Apparent filter ratio 10
Gross filter ratio 1.0
Pressure drop across mouth of filter element 0.2 in. w.c.
Pressure drop across media 3.3 in. w.c.
Operating permeability of cake plus media = 10.6 (if we consider 35 ft.² as the cleanable media)

Category 2B type WA cartridge collector with pleat 1/2 inch wide and 1 inch deep by 40 inches long
Total pressure drop 2 “ w.c.
Filter ratio 8:1
Pressure drop across the opening in the top of the filter element 1 – 1.2 inch w.c.
Net pressure drop across the media is 0.8 inch w.c.
Operating permeability cake + media = 10

Summary
Brand new media; operating permeability, no cake = 18 cfm per sq.ft, 100% open media
Category 1B NEW TECH cylindrical filter ratio 18:1;
operating permeability cake + media = 13.8 cfm per sq. ft., 75% open media
Category 1A OLD TECH cylindrical filter ratio 6:1;
operating permeability cake + media = 1.7 cfm per sq. ft, 10%open media
Category 2A cartridge 14 pleats per inch apparent filter ratio 10;
operating permeability cake + media = 10 cfm per sq, ft., 55% open area based on 35 sq.ft. media
gross filter ratio of 1:1, 3% open area based on 260 sq.ft. of media
Category 2B cartridge filter elements, 1/2 inch wide pleat, filter ratio 8;
operating permeability cake + media = 10 cfm per sq.ft, 55% open media

Conclusions:
These calculations show that for different designs of dust collectors with presumably the same dust and dust cake, the
efficacy of the media is between 3 % and 75% effective. The ineffective media is plugged with dust.

See the attached tables for typical industrial applications.

Density is defined as lbs/cu.ft. of material.
Dust Loading in a collector is lbs/ cu.ft. of airflow through the collector.
Typical dust loading:
1. Fumes (welding) = 10 grains/ 1000 cu.ft. = 14 x 10-4 lbs/ 1000 cu.ft.
2. Material handling = 3 - 5 grains / cu.ft. = 4 - 7 x 10-4 lbs/ cu.ft.
3. Typical dusts in a collector = 10-20 grains / cu.ft. = 14 - 29 x 10-4 lbs/ cu.ft.
Example; 1200 CFM dust collector with typical dust = 15 x 1200 = 1.8 lbs / minute