Dust Doctor: Energy-saving tips for your dust control system
Most dust control systems have a direct operating cost to your plant with little, if any, direct return on investment. Typical operating costs include costs for using and treating scrubber water, replacing dust collector filters, supplying compressed air, repairing sheet metal, maintaining exhaust fans - and consuming energy.
Energy consumption is a major component of your dust control system's operating cost. A typical system with an exhaust fan operating at full load with a 50-horsepower motor provides around 17,000 cfm of dust control air. The same exhaust fan operating at full load at a lower fan static pressure with a 25-horsepower motor provides about 12,000 cfm. Do you know that running a 50-horsepower exhaust fan motor year-round costs about $28,000 per year at 8 cents/kWh? Operating a 25-horsepower motor only costs about $14,000 per year. And as high as these costs are, they still don't include the cost of operating makeup air heating and cooling units to replace the air the system discharges to the outdoors.