Synergetics

Key outcomes:

  • 95% of particulates captured across a range of particle sizes
  • Energy usage reduced by 90% compared to alternative hoods

Dust is a common issue in paper mills, where the production processes involve handling and processing paper, wood, and other materials. The main sources of dust generation in paper mills include wood handling, pulp processing, paper manufacturing, and finishing processes. A paper mill approached Synergetics to design an optimized dust extraction hood. The ideal dust collector needed to be compact, low power consumption, with high capture efficiency for many particle sizes. The process began with a series of experimental lab tests to understand the mechanisms of dust generation, peak locations and the distribution of particle sizes.

A side on photo showing dust shed from roller. This demonstrates the need for dust capture.

Figure 1: Particle image velocimetry (PIV) analysis shows that as the roll of paper passes over a roller the rapid acceleration sheds particles of dust. The flow entrains some of these particles, causing them to follow the paper around the roller.

After understanding the mechanisms of dust generation, Synergetics used computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modelling to assess dozens of hood designs. We then utilized further simulations to fine-tune the best designs and achieve an optimal solution.

The finished hood not only captured 95% of the dust generated by paper passing over the rollers but also reduce the settled dust in the facility by 89% at the dustiest location. The dust reduction was observed across the entire range of generated particle sizes. Additionally, targeted extraction resulted in reduced power consumption, with the hood consuming 90% less energy than alternative non-targeted hoods.

The optimised dust capture hood fitted to the roller, and operating successfully.

Figure 2: The optimised dust capture hood after being installed over the roller. To avoid interfering with operations and maintenance of the paper mill the size was kept to a minimum.

For further dust capture examples see our air quality page.