Efficiency of Fabric Dust Filter (Bag Filter) in reducing

Suspended Particulate Matter level.

PRESENTED BY UMANG K. SHAH

Introduction
 Textile industry is one of the largest sources of air pollution.
M/s. Dada Silk Mills (M/s. DSM) where the study was
conducted is located in Surat, Gujurat. There are around 70 units of
textile processing in Sachin, 110 in Pandesara and apprximatey 60
units in Kadodara making Gujurat a textile processing hub.
The company had installed a Steam Boiler with steam generating
capacity of 4 tonnes per hour and a thermic Fluid Heater with heat
generating capacity of 20,00,000 kcal/hr.
In the above utilities, they used Indonesian Coal and Lignite as fuel and
the desired quantity of of steam/heat is obtained by combustion of coal.

 This resulted in the generation of particulate matter, SOx and NOx

through stack which causes air pollution.

 For controlling this emission a mechanical dust collector and bag filters
were installed to conform to the GPCB norms of PM production less than
150 mg/Nm3
STEAM BOILER
Make M/s. Zenith
Thermal
equipments
pvt.ltd.
Steam Capacity 4.0 TPH
Boiler Rated pressure 10.50 kg/cm2

Type of Boiler Package type

Type of fuel Manual firing

Firing
Rated pressure 10.50 kg/cm2
THERMIC FLUID HEATER
Make M/s. Gujtex Engineering, Surat
Thermic Fluid Year 2013
Heater Capacity 20,00,000 Kcal/hr. (2,000 U)
Type of fuel Firing Manual firing
Flow diagram of APCM attached with Steam Boiler (4.0 TPH) &
Thermic Fluid heater (20,00,000 kcal/hr)
MECHANICAL DUST
COLLECTOR

APC Parameters Unit of Dimensions

measures Measurement

Mechanical No. of cones Nos. 36

Dust collector
Diameter of mm 250
cones
Length of mm 305
cones
Need for study
The mechanical dust collector and bag filter was lacking in
efficiency and economy and hence caused trouble for the textile mill
to meet the Govt. regulations.
The type of Bag Filters used was fiber glass which could not resist
high temperature and resulted in bursting.
On an average 25 bags were being replaced in a year causing a
huge economic loss to the textile mill with no significant
improvement on the environmental side of it as well.
DESIGN OF NEW BAG FILTERS
BAG FILTER
Umang standing beside apparatus used for calculating the SPM level.
Bag filters are usually called Fabric Dust Collectors that are used in
Industrial units for separating dust particles from dusty gases.

The new Bag Filter was equipped with Automatic Inlet Cum Bypass
Damper System (ICBD).

The system automatically stopped the incoming flow of hot flue gases;
therefore the Bag Filter could not reach its maximum resisting
temperature of 250°C.

M/s. DSM is using their Bag Filter since past 11 months and no bag is
replaced so far. They have set the Inlet Cum Bypass Damper system
currently at 220°C.
SPM Calculation
The Suspended Particulate Matter (SPM) level was determined by
Gravimetric Method with reference to IS 11255 (Part 1) – 1985.
 The various apparatus used were Digital Weight Balance, Glass
Fiber thimble and Desiccator.
 The Initial Weight of thimble (W1) was found, and then we found
Final Weight of thimble after collection of Particular Matter (W2).
The SPM level was found by dividing (W2-W1) by total volume in
liters.
Equation
Results and Discussion
The SPM level significantly dropped down from 138.6 mg/Nm3 to
88 mg/Nm3 after adopting new Bag Filter.
Due to reduction in dust load, and proper design of Bag Filter, the
air pressure required to clean the Bag Filter are very less i.e.
3.5kg/cm² instead of 6kg/cm² which were required earlier.
The quantity of smoke emission has reduced. The smoke emitted
from stack is almost white now. Less manpower required.
Suspended particles up to 10μm can be filtered. Residents living
nearby can breathe peacefully.
 It is concluded that after implementation of New Bag Filters the
Particulate Matter (PM) level was under control i.e. 88 mg/Nm3 as
compared to previous which was 138.6 mg/Nm3.
 The smoke emitted through stack is almost white. The electricity
consumption has been reduced approximately by 7%.
 Fibre glass is an appropriate filtering bag material in Bag Filter for textile
industries. Suspended particles of size up to 10 μm are filtered in Bag
Filter.
 The fuel consumption has been decreased by approximately 3%. There
is a need to create awareness among textile industries to use efficient
air pollution control equipment’s there by reducing air pollution.
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank our guide and mentor Prof. J.S.Sudarsan for guiding and helping
us through out our internship and in compiling our paper.
We would also like to express our gratitude to our HOD Dr. Sathyanarayanan for his
constant encouragement and support and to SRM University for providing us with the
opportunities to show our work.
This study would have remained a dream if we would have worked on it alone. We feel
proud to thank the management team of M/s. Dada Silk Mills, specifically Mr. Atik
Zuber Kunda, Partner of M/s. Dada Silk Mills for his kind co-operation.
With heartfelt gratitude, we earnestly thank Mr. Ajay Valvi, Sr. Engineer and Mr. Yusuf
Fensi, Sr. Manager at M/s. Dada Silk Mills, Surat for providing us with their valuable
guidance, patience and encouragement.
We would like to thank Mr. D. M. Thaker –Environment Engineer at Gujarat Pollution
Control Board, Gandhinagar for his valuable suggestion.
We would also like to thank technical team members of M/s. En-vision
Environmental Services, Surat. We feel extremely happy to thank Mr. Kunhal
Shah and Mrs. Shilpa Shah, Partners, En-vision Environmental Services who always
encouraged us to learn, gain knowledge and spend quality time in research related
work. They explained to us the key concepts of air pollution and its measures taken
to control it without which this study would have not been possible.

Ms. Urvi Mistry, Technical Department, M/s. En-vision Environmental Services,

Surat deserves special credit for her most co-operative, painstaking attitude and
untiring efforts for getting technical reports, editing and documentation.