Excellent mixtures – with reliable extraction

Customer:	Almamet
Extracted material:	Metal dusts
Industry:	Metalworking
Extraction system:	NA 250 AM wet separator with upstream cyclonic separator

Almamet GmbH manufactures reduction and desulphurisation materials for the steel industry. These are blends of magnesium and aluminium powders, along with other components. In addition, Almamet also produces powders made of magnesium alloys, which are used to manufacture fireproof products.

Problem

Lightweight metal dusts are flammable, and need to be extracted. This is especially true for the mixing system, which conveys up to six ingredients in powder form into mixing containers via augers. The company needed a powerful extraction system to fulfil its dust explosion protection requirements.

Solution

For extraction, the dust is first guided into a cyclone around two metres tall, directly on the mixing system. It acts as a pre-separator to separate a large percentage of the particles. The lightweight metal dusts in the air stream are delivered to a type NA 250 AM wet separator (for “aluminium / magnesium”). It guides the flammable dusts through a liquid, neutralising them. There are two residual dust filters upstream of the liquid, and a degassing valve prevents the formation of a flammable atmosphere in the vacuum cleaner itself. The drive unit of the extraction system is designed as a separate unit.

Management of the Almamet plant in Ratingen is very satisfied with the system. Measurements have shown that over 99 percent of the explosive dusts are reliably absorbed.