Dura-Life™ Filter Bags Handle Moisture in Glassmaking

Glass manufacturing is a particularly challenging application for dust collection, because any moisture can turn the soda ash & silica into a cement-like coating on the filters bags—quickly plugging them up. 

One leading U.S. manufacturer of glass containers for the food and beverage industries knows all about these challenges. Their soda ash was housed in 100-ft outdoor silos with Flex-Kleen®  dust collectors—but the bags in the collectors were “cemented up solid” with hardened soda ash from continual moisture contamination. After spending close to a million dollars trying to fix their existing system, this customer finally gave Donaldson® Torit® a try.

Donaldson Torit Dalamatic® Insertable (DLMV) dust collectors with Dura-Life®  filter bags were installed on top of each soda ash silo. The DLMV collector is an excellent bin vent because it has no housing; rather, it is mounted in existing ductwork or silos. This de-centralized methodology means dust is collected at the point of generation, instead of ducted to a central place.

Soda ash is very hygroscopic (moisture absorptive), but the surface-loading characteristics of Dura-Life filter media enable prompt pulse-cleaning before the ash can harden up.

The collectors ran 24/7 since the installation of Dura-Life filter bags. Even after 8700+ hours of continuous operation, the average pressure drop still ran between 2 and 4 “wg. After almost 2 years in operation, the same Dura-Life filters were still going strong!