In its quest to become a Smart Foundry, Atlantis Foundries has not neglected its duty to environmental best practices and more importantly, its staff, suppliers and clients.
“The struggle for clean air is about having the possibility to breathe healthy air every day. Unfortunately, according to the WHO’s guideline limits, this is not the reality for a large percentage of the world’s population. Poor air is one of the most common causes of premature deaths throughout the world and industry is one of the largest sources of emissions. At the same time, industry, together with legislators, is the driving force behind several initiatives to improve the situation. And at the same time, save energy, increase recycling and enhance production efficiency,” commented Pieter du Plessis, CEO of Atlantis Foundries.
Under the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Regulations of 2014 and the National Environmental Management: Air Quality Act (NEM: AQA) of 2004, it’s mandatory for all entities in the metallurgical industry to have an Environmental Authorisation (EA) and an Atmospheric Emissions License (AEL). These licenses ensure that foundries operate in a manner that’s safe for the environment and protects public health.
An example of the industrial filtration solution system for the future – Nederman MikroPul FS Flat bag filter with reverse air cleaning that is being installed at Atlantis Foundries. This is the second Nederman system to be installed at Atlantis Foundries
Foundries and ore smelters require dust and fume collection for several different processes, such as sand casting and electric arc furnaces (EAF’s). High temperature dust collection and ventilation systems are often required to handle high dust loads of various particle sizes that are potentially hazardous or combustible.
The experienced engineers, programmers, project managers, and construction trade craftsmen at IAC understand the unique air handling requirements of foundries and smelters, and are here to help your operation meet or exceed nameplate production rates while adhering to applicable worker safety and environmental air quality control standards.
“For a long time, the Atlantis Foundries plant has met the criteria and requirements for the environmental license (AEL), especially for what is required in today’s climate. Finding the best solution to foundry dust collection challenges related to melt pots/pouring, sand shakeout, sand reclamation, and grinding, can be a complex process.”
Environmental management and compliance
“We have also installed a new bag house for the new South African Standards and Regulations for Emissions for foundries that dictate minimum emission standards for particulate matter. These levels were legislated to decrease from 100mg/Nm3 to 30mg/Nm3. The first phase of this project was linking a number of our chimney stacks to a central extraction system to which we have also added a burner system to burn off moisture and oil residue. This bag house system is now operational and the emissions are fully compliant.”
Nederman MikroPul FS type filter: Emission Phase 2
“We installed our first Nederman MikroPul FS type filter for dust extraction system back in 2019. We have now decided to install a second Nederman MikroPul FS type filter for a few reasons. The current equipment is working according to specifications but will need upgrading in the future. To circumvent any breakdown, we are making provision for uninterrupted dust extraction and air filtration.”
“The added benefit is that even though we are way below the stipulated requirement we are going to further enhance our air quality, while having the satisfaction that the working environment will not be compromised for our staff.”
“The installation is part of Atlantis Foundries’ Emission Phase 2 and will be the second FS filter on this site and will be commissioned in early 2024.”
Dirty air enters the filter from the top with airflow direction in the filter itself from top to bottom. The dust is held back by the filter bags and these are gently cleaned by clean air after a certain differential pressure or preset time has been achieved. The dust drops into the dust collection hopper and is conveyed away via the dust discharge
“The filter system has a design volume flow of 186 000m³ per hour. It will be supplied with a 250kW fan unit controlled by a Danfoss frequency converter type VLT for optimised control and energy consumption. The emission warranty stipulates residual dust level in the clean gas of maximum 5 mg/Nm3.”
“The plant incorporates Nederman Insight Software that monitors the filter plant performance on PC Dashboard and mobile app. The system includes alarm history and trend detection and uses remote (cloud) data storage with security technology.”
“The FS type filter is a cassette type filter bag design using continuous cleaning of the filter bags without the use of costly compressed air. This leads to improved filter bag life.”
“The advantages of the FS filter design are numerous including a compact design with a small footprint and low space requirement, easy access to replace bags, reverse air cleaning so no use of compressed air is required, can handle very fine dusts, has low maintenance requirements and an attractive dust emission warranty.”
“The FS filter offered a number of advantages that were attractive to us such as the small footprint mentioned before, no use of compressed air, an emission warranty of maximum dust content in clean gas of 10mg/Nm, low maintenance requirements and a number of worldwide references in foundry applications including foundries in South Africa.”
“The Nederman MikroPul FS type filter was purchased from Nederman MikroPul, who are based in Germany, and Mondeco handled the local scope as well as all aspects of installation based on detailed engineering from Nederman MikroPul.”
For further details contact Atlantis Foundries on TEL: 021 573 7200 or visit www.atlantisfoundries.com or contact Mondeco Solutions on 079 448 1277 or visit www.mondeco.co.za