It’s understandable why you spend so much time managing dust. As it accumulates, you risk fire and explosion. It’s associated with cancer and chronic respiratory problems. It’s a general workplace hazard. And regulators require its containment.
As a conscientious wood-product manufacturer, however, the hours personnel spend managing dust rather than doing something productive hasn’t escaped your notice. Employees scoop and sweep the stuff several hours a week—if not per day—even though, out of all the tasks that need done at your facility, sweeping and shoveling dust falls low on the list of things you prefer them doing. With labor in short supply, you’d rather assign employees more critical tasks. But you cannot stop managing dust.
The best solution, it seems, is to eliminate as many sources of dust as possible.
One way you can accomplish this is to equip your facility with dust-tight machinery. Take conveyors, for instance. Rather than using belt conveyors, which leave tailings in piles under the return belt, you could install dust-tight drag conveyors. Drag conveyors don’t leave tailings, and the machine’s components are easily enclosed, which isn’t the case with belt conveyors. Even when equipped with dust containment systems, belt conveyors do only a fair job at containing dust.
The same scenario applies to receiving, storage, and reclaim equipment. Dust-tight solutions are available for all these processes. In order to reduce labor going into clean up, consider the following options.
Dust-Tight Material Handling Equipment
Receiving
- Trailer receiving station (metering device) for mobile SMART Containers
- Metering bins feeding or fed with SMART Conveyors™
Storage
- SMART Containers with output to SMART Conveyors™
Transfer and Reclaim Conveyors
- SMART Conveyors™[1]
Load Out
- Trailer Loading Station[2]
Let the experienced team at Biomass Engineering & Equipment help you design the right solutions to reduce your risks and keep your personnel productive. We will take turnkey responsibility to design the layouts, chutes, supports, maintenance platforms, and installation plans. We know how to install fast and how to maintain the dust-tight integrity.
[1] SMART Conveyors™ can be fitted with explosion panels, spark detection, and deluge systems for protection against explosions.
[2] Trailer loading stations from Biomass Engineering & Equipment are not “dust tight,” but they do produce far less dust than trailer bins / chip bins.
