For Dust Collectors, Sustainability is Key
Minor savings in energy costs can result in added costs and risks elsewhere. Dust collectors have options.
By Sandia Harrison, Director of Marketing, FPE Automation
"Consider This - Single Energy Projects Don't Maximize Savings" Industry Week reports. If you've been a part of a corporate energy initiative, you might have found that statement to be painfully obvious. Lots of effort to save a few hundred dollars. Sound familiar?
For manufacturers, there are big motivators to save energy. For several years, in the U.S., tax incentives were in place to entice corporations to reduce their energy consumption. The dollar savings (read: bottom line on the company's energy bill) is another good reason to reduce costs. Sustainability and going "green" are increasingly important aspects of operating in today's business climate.
So, manufacturing plants everywhere adopted measure after measure in their quest to re-think the way they consume energy. As you would expect, some worked better than others. Those mixed results were confusing.
For many plant managers, energy-saving efforts like building improvements were at the top of their list, in terms of priority. Better insulation, energy-efficient windows, smart light switches and roofing systems certainly do reduce heating and cooling loads. The problem is, upgrades like those involve significant upfront costs, which can diminish or even completely nullify, their effectiveness, creating a false economy. Add an increase of labor costs and disruption to ongoing operations, and suddenly they don't seem very appealing.
In fact, most of the items in the top 10 list of so-called "improvements" cost more money to implement than they saved. FPE Automation meets with companies on a daily basis, and the conversation is always similar. You are not getting enough "bang for their buck". We hear you. You are trying. Quite frankly, you're a bit frustrated.
So, how do you really reduce your carbon footprint without increasing costs? How do you do so in such a way that it produces measurable results?
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| A factory worker climbs a ladder to replace older, malfunctioning diaphragm valves in inclement weather. |
It turns out, equipment optimization is at the top of the list.
Is Your Dust Collector "Collecting Dust"?
Dust collection itself is not new. Your dust collector has been there for a while. In most cases, longer than you. The federal regulations that require them have been around since the 1970s. Your actual dust collector is, idiomatically, collecting dust.
The sheer number of plants required to have dust collection systems in place is huge:
- Woodworking operations, sawmills, furniture manufacturing, and wood processing facilities are typically required to have dust collection systems in place.
- If you produce certain chemicals, depending on the specific chemicals involved and the potential for emissions, your facility may need to have dust collection systems to comply with EPA regulations.
- Many metalworking processes, such as welding, grinding, and cutting, can generate airborne particulate matter. This type of manufacturing facility may be subject to EPA regulations that require the installation of dust collection systems to control emissions and protect air quality.
- Mining operations, including coal mining, mineral extraction, and quarrying, often generate significant amounts of dust. The EPA has regulations, such as the New Source Performance Standards (NSPS), that impose requirements on the control of dust emissions from mining activities.
- Facilities involved in grain handling, such as grain elevators, mills, bakeries and food processing plants, often have regulations in place for controlling dust emissions. The EPA's Grain Handling Facilities National Emission Standard for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP) addresses particulate matter emissions from grain handling operations.
FPE Automation has experience with all of the above, plus pet food manufacturers, hospitals, and a manufacturer of roofing products, which you'll read more about below.
This is not intended to be an all-inclusive list. If you're not sure if you're required to have a dust collection system in your plant, check with the appropriate regulatory authority. However, this list does give an idea of how many businesses across the United States have been required to comply since the NESHAP guidelines were adopted a half-century ago. If you're reading this, you may be one of the hundreds of thousands of individuals somehow involved in managing a dust collection system.
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| Companies like ComEd and Ameren like what the raw data shows. PV technology from MAC Valves is provento significantly reduce energy consumption. |
FPE Automation has also partnered with the energy providers in the region. Companies like ComEd and Ameren like what the raw data shows. In other words, this technology is proven to significantly reduce energy consumption.
Better Air Quality: A Technological Breakthrough
Dust collection is not new, and that's exactly the problem. Many dust collection systems have not changed significantly over the past 50 years. If equipment optimization tops the list of effective strategies to save energy, then why haven't more manufacturers looked to their obsolete methods of dust collection, as a way to reduce energy costs?
The answer is simple. Until recently, the technology remained relatively unchanged.
Dust collection engineering is finally catching up with the green initiative.
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| When cleaner is not better: this inefficient dust collection system is running, but collecting next to nothing. A nearly complete waste of energy. |
A New Era of Green Energy for Dust-Collecting Manufacturing Plants
As with most new technology, if it's good, then word begins to spread.
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| FPE Automation's award-winning team. L to R: Scott Jokerst, Steve Carrera, Cody Schmelzle |
A global manufacturer of roof shingles had recently retrofitted their Florida plant with new, better-performing pulse valves. Dust Collection expert Jonathan Moon from Adams had received an industry award for the upgrade.
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| An update in progress: replacing underperforming valves with MAC Valves. Photo courtesy of Doug Adams, used with permission. |
That success story was passed on to their sister plant in Piedmont, Missouri. FPE Automation's Scott Jokerst, Solution Specialist, and Steve Carrera, Dust Collection Expert, stepped in to assist them in retrofitting that plant with new, better-performing pulse valves.
After testing and implementation at the facility in Piedmont, a detailed assessment took place. It was determined to be so successful that another location in Jonesburg, Missouri, wanted to duplicate it. The plant engineer worked with Cody Schmelzle and Steve Carrera. He informed FPE Automation that his corporation had an incentive for projects that helped the company save energy. FPE Automation and MAC Valves worked with the company to make certain that delivery aligned with his deadline.
As a result, on May 31, 2023, FPE Automation received an industry award from MAC Valves for their expertise and participation in two major installations. Mathew Neff, President & COO, and Joseph Richardson, VP of Sales for MAC Valves, made the announcement and congratulated the team.
Technology has finally caught up. In the area of dust collection, we are now able to reduce energy costs in a measurable way without hidden costs or other pitfalls. At the same time, we can reduce the level of airborne contaminants, enhance reliability and improve serviceability. All more efficiently than we could before.
Pulse valve upgrades continue to see record growth as the news becomes more widely shared. The global roofing company has continued its corporate initiative to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and the individual plants see the MAC Pulse Valve as a great way to accomplish that.
One by one, companies are following suit; taking real steps toward protecting their employees, the environment, and our planet.
