40

Powder and Bulk Engineering, June 1993

Case history

T
pneumatic
conveyor
cleanly
transfer.
detergent
dust
After a flexible screw conveyor
inefficientlymoved a cleaning
products manufacturers detergent
dust, a compact pneumatic
conveyor improved transport of
the reusable dust.

he Grow Group, based in Havre

de Grace, Md. (about 1 hour north
of Baltimore), manufactures professional and household cleaning products, including powdered detergents and
waxes. The cleaning products manufacturer receives truckloads of soda ash,
salt, surfactants, and brighteners in bulk
bags, paper bags, drums, and tankers.
Forklift trucks and pumps move the raw
materials to a warehouse or tanks and
then to a production area. Bulk bags and
paper bags of powders are dumped into a
double-ribbon blender, and the surfactants
are sprayed onto the blended powders.
Surfactants and other detergent components are pneumatically conveyed
through the plant. A baghouse dust collector filters the conveyingair, removing
detergent dust, which is as fine as face
powder and can be reused in detergent
blending. The dust is conveyed from the
baghouse dust collector back to the
blender.

Flexiblescrew conveyor
inadequatelyhnsfers detergent dust
The detergent dusts material characteristics and conveying requirements pre-

sent several challenges. The dust weighs

56 lb/ft3,is very fine and dry, and must be

conveyed at ambient temperature. The
dust flows sluggishly, and conveying can
fluidize the dust. The dust is also hygroscopic so conveying is more difficult in
high humidity. Since the dust is reused, it
cant be contaminated during conveying.
Before 1990, the cleaning products manufacturer used a flexible screw conveyor
to transport the detergent dust from the
baghouse dust collector back to the
blender. The flexible screw conveyor had
a hopper that discharged into a polyethylene tube that housed a helical auger. A
motor at the discharge end turned the
auger. However, problems almost immediately arose with the conveyor.
The augers whipping action fluidized
the dust, which then overflowed the hopper and fell onto the floor. This contaminated and wasted the dust and required
constant cleanup. The augers rotation
also heated the dust. According to Dave
Engleman, the Grow Groups operational maintenance supervisor, When
the heated dust was exposed to humidity,
it turned to cement and coated the auger

Detergent dust exits the baghouse dust collector (lower &

I J, and is pneumatically
conveyed through stainless steel conveying tubes to a filter-receiver at the
blenders top (upperright).

Powder and Bulk Engineering, June 1993

and the tubes interior. The flexible screw
conveyor then worked against itself.
Engleman said, The transfer efficiency
with this method was about 40 percent.
When we dropped a load of about 200
pounds of dust, we were lucky to transfer
80 to 90 pounds before the dust overflowed the hopper. We also experienced
frequent shutdowns to clean the tube and
auger. Cleaning the flexible screw conveyor required 3 to 4 hours of downtime
two to three times per week.

Engleman, who had 41 years experience

with another detergent manufacturer
prior to joining the Grow Group, could
have predicted the results based on his
experience. I knew that if you run detergents through a flexible screw conveyor,
you can expect heat buildup that will
cause hardened lumps.
~~

Fluidized detergent dust overflowed a

flexible screw conveyor k h oppec
contaminating the reusable dust. A
compact pneumatic conveyor transfers
the dust without contamination,
minimizing product loss.

41

Compact pneumaficconveyor
efFectively transfers detergent dust
during tests
The cleaning products manufacturer
needed a solution to the conveying problem. Because of our experience with
pneumatically conveying detergents, we
started looking at various pneumatic
conveyors that would give the required
sanitation, elevation, and capacity, Engleman said. A pneumatic conveyor
would also convey the detergent dust
without hopper overflows and buildup
from heat.

A flexible screw conveyor moved

detergent dust with low efficiency,
wasting reusable dust. A compact
pneumatic conveyor transfers virtually
all the dust.

The cleaning products manufacturer narrowed its search to a compact pneumatic

conveyor called the Mini-VacTM. The
conveyor would be easy and quick to
clean and was well suited to mounting
over the double-ribbon blender. Though
the flexible screw conveyor had been
purchased without conveying tests, the
pneumatic conveyor would be tested
prior to purchase.

A regenerative blower on h e filter-receiverprovides motive air for the cleaning

productsmanufbcfurefsdetergentdust.

In March 1990, a large detergent-dust

test sample was submitted to the conveyor manufacturer. The test conveyor
used 10 feet of 2-inch (outside diameter)
conveying line and one elbow. The conveyor blower ran at 3,450 rpm with 75
cfm of inlet air under a vacuum of 3 !4
inches mercury. A pickup wand attached
to the conveyor inlet drew in detergent
dust, which discharged from the systems
filter-receiver through a dump valve. A
reverse-jet pulse cleaned the conveyors
filter for 0.8 seconds every 50 seconds,
and the detergent dust built up only
slightly so no filter problems were anticipated. Tests showed good conveyability,
and the conveyor manufacturer supplied
a detailed test report.

44

Powder and Bulk Engineering, June 1993

Cleaning productsmanufacturer
inshlls compact pneumaticconveyor
Based on the conveying test results and
capacity requirements, the cleaning
products manufacturer ordered a compact pneumatic conveyor, which was installed later that year. The selected model
has a 20-inch stainless steel filter-receiver and a conical outlet hopper
flanged to mate with a cylinder-operated
discharge valve. The filter-receiver has a
quick-release top cover made of Type
304 stainless steel. A polyester-membrane filter cartridge with 15 square feet
of filter area was selected to handle the
detergent dust.

A quick-releasetop cover on a

The pneumatic conveyor is set to cycle

for 50 to 60 seconds, after which the discharge valve opens to release the detergent dust back into the blender. Blasts of
90-psi compressed air cycle for 4 to 6
seconds to clean the filter cartridge between load cycles.

Although the cleaning products manufacturer generally requires a conveying

capacity of only 200 Ib/h, the selected
conveyor handles over 2,000 lb/h. The
extra capacity permits quick dust collector cleanout if finished detergent is inadvertently conveyed to the dust collector
due to an unclosed valve. Engleman said,
The detergent and dust must then be
transferred out of the collector and back
into the system through the pneumatic
conveyor.

compact pneumatic conveyors filter.

receiver simplifies cleaning.

A regenerative blower powers the pneumatic conveyor, inducing airflow by

applying vacuum to stainless steel conveying lines and the filter-receiver. The
vacuum draws detergent dust into a
pickup wand, through the conveying
lines, and into the filter-receiver.An electrical control package regulates the
conveyors variable cycle time. An adjustable reverse-jet pulse of compressed
air dislodges caked detergent dust from
the filter.

The compact pneumatic conveyor is

mounted over the blender inlet port. Conveying lines extend approximately 30
feet from the blender inlet port to a 90degree elbow and down to the baghouse
discharge port. Flexible hose and a
pickup wand are coupled to the conveyors inlet.

Detergent dust falls from the baghouse

discharge port into an approximately 3cubic-foot hopper. As detergent dust
dumps into the hopper, the pneumatic
conveyor activates and a worker maneuvers the wand to draw the detergent dust
into the conveying lines.

The filter-receivers quick-release top

cover simplifies cleaning by permitting
quick access to the units interior and the
filter cartridge. Conveyor cleaning takes
less than 30 minutes. Engleman said that
workers like the pneumatic conveyor.
The quick-release cover on the units
top is very user friendly. Its easy to open
up, clean out, and put back together in a
matter of minutes.

Based on experience with conveying detergent dust, Engleman recommends

sending the conveyor manufacturer a
material sample before considering a
conveyor purchase, especially for hardto-convey materials like detergent dust.
Its an investment in your projects sucPBE
cess, concluded Engleman.
Hapman Conveyors, Kalamazoo, MI.

Compact pneumatic conveyor

successfully conveys detergent dust
Engleman reports that the compact pneumatic conveyor paid for itself in material
savings alone within the first 3 months of
operation. Before, any material that
overflowed onto the floor had to be discarded, as did the solidified product inside the tube and on the auger. With the
pneumatic conveyor, there is practically
no product loss, Engleman said.

Everything that comes out of the baghouse dust collector goes back into the
blender. Were getting a good clean
transfer, and there is virtually no contaminated product to be discarded, Engleman said. The pneumatic conveyor has
also eliminated the labor to maintain the
flexible screw conveyor and clean detergent dust off the floor.

Our overall experience with the pneumatic conveyor has been very good. We
have no complaints whatsoever, and the
conveyor has served its purpose troublefree since installation. Like anything else
when youre running detergent powders,
the conveyor builds up with dirt that has
to be cleaned; therefore we clean the conveyor every Saturday, Engleman said.

8001968-7722

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