Agrochemicals Plant Reduces Emissions

The client is a major international manufacturer of agrochemicals. Their Huddersfield facility in the UK is long established and there is a constant drive to modernize and upgrade the plant. It was identified that an existing scrubber was in a poor state of repair and required replacement. At the same time, the hazards associated with the chemicals involved in the process were re-evaluated and it was decided that a replacement scrubber will offer significantly reduced emissions. Greater reliability, less maintenance and reduced noise were also needed.

A RotoClone® N was selected because of its enhanced scrubbing efficiency when operated at “line 5”, typically better than 99% at 1 micron particle size. The scope of supply included:

| RotoClone® N [size 4 arrangement D], line 5 operation, electronic water level controls
| Fan set, 15kW EExd motor, direct drive
| Control panel (for automatic water level control only) with intrinsically safe barriers
| ATEX features

Challenge

The plant owner had several priorities for the new replacement scrubber - cleaner emissions, reliable performance, minimal servicing, less noise and compact physical size. The challenge was to provide completely reliable and constant flow extraction for a Palomatic bag shredding machine. This safely releases the hazardous contents of sealed paper sacks. The operation can only be conducted under a safe suction condition. Prior to start up and throughout operations, adequate extraction must be proven. The AAF equipment is installed in a zoned area - ATEX Zone 2 category 3G - and the fan motor is rated for Zone 2, EExd, 11B, T4. Not only was the available space limited, but the access route for installation was tortuous.

Solution

AAF provided a RotoClone® N with an integral direct drive fan set. To allow the unit to fit into the limited space the hopper was specially shaped. Transit along the difficult access route was facilitated by fabricating several parts of the RotoClone® N as detachable sub-assemblies allowing speedy final assembly in the final position. The RotoClone® N was set up for line 5 operation to offer significantly cleaner emissions. Fully automatic electronic water level control was employed for reliability. The fan set was selected to meet the required duty while being relatively slow running and quiet enough to not need a silencer or acoustic cladding.

Benefits

The new system provided a much improved collection efficiency. The emission was tested 6 months after start up by the enforcement agency and judged to be completely satisfactory - about 8 times less emissions than previously was recorded. The near field and far field noise targets were easily met. The reliability, performance and ease of use of the RotoClone® N have all been praised by the operational team.