Controlling Dust In Grain Manufacturing Operations

Viterra, based in Regina, Canada, a grain supplier and processor, operates two grain terminals in the Port of Vancouver, BC—the Cascadia terminal and the Pacific terminal. Both terminals have receiving systems, several material handling systems, cleaning systems, pellet production systems, storage capabilities, and shipping systems, and both plants require dust filtration on all of these systems.

The original dust filtration systems were installed in the 1970s and used large shaker-style baghouses. The age and style of the systems presented several risks, including the worn condition of the older equipment, the low filtration efficiency by current regulatory standards, and the difficulty of replacing obsolete key components in the shaker mechanism. Plant downtime associated with this system resulted in a shutdown of the entire facility. The older systems were well beyond their design life, and both facilities were experiencing operating problems. These problems prompted Viterra to look for a new filtration solution that would maintain acceptable dust levels and reduce plant downtime.

After researching several different options, Viterra decided to go with new dust collectors from Schenck Process, Kansas City, MO. Viterra hired a mechanical engineering team to design the new filtration systems, including the pickup points, the ducting design, optimized fan sizing, and filter requirements. The engineering team then sent the supplier an initial list of design requirements for the dust collectors and worked closely with Schenck on the specific design of the entire system and each collector.