The Pharmaceutical Industry and Its Contaminants: What Do You Need To Know?

When pharmaceutical products are manufactured, powders and pigments are gently handled on a daily basis. You must factor in many parameters when developing and designing your dust collection and ventilation systems. Consider these factors:

• Do you have adequate control over your internal environment, particularly in the cleanrooms? Temperature, moisture and pressure are aspects to be monitored, as are the airflow characteristics.
• Your processes generate multiple types of particles that can create potentially harmful and explosive chemical mixtures; are you equipped to control the spread of them and reduce the risk of deflagration?
• Do your capture measures effectively prevent the proliferation of airborne micro-organisms or bioaerosols?

Are you aware of the risks associated with your processes?

You know as well as we do that your industry has its share of constraints. When you manufacture medications or other pharmaceutical products, you must deal with risks associated with particle, dust and bioaerosol emissions, while reducing cross-contamination. For example, contact between certain contaminants could cause a chemical reaction that triggers a fire or explosion. In addition to your processes, your facility’s air handling is important — from laboratories to storage — in order to prevent the products from breaking down.

The retention capacity of the filters in your dust collector is also an important aspect of your system’s performance. Another aspect is maintenance. Depending on the model, you will need to reduce human contact with the contaminated filter medium when replacing its filters or emptying the hopper under the dust collector. An additional challenge: preventing the particle-laden air from escaping during that maintenance. Among the various ways of protecting the workers’ breathing zone, replacing the filters with a "Bag-In/Bag-Out" solution can reduce this risk.

How can you reduce the risks of fire and explosion?

In the pharmaceutical industry, some of the substances involved are extremely combustible, such as organic particles. Our experts can suggest effective dust collection and prevention solutions for you that meet the standards in effect. You will be able to reduce the risks of fire and explosion in your laboratories and when handling chemicals (in keeping with the NFPA 45).

What Is The Best Dust Collector For The Pharmaceutical Industry?

Every player in your industry has unique issues, which is why we can’t recommend a one-size-fits-all solution! In the presence of fine dusts, micro-organisms or bioaerosols, HEPA – ULPA is a good option. Did you know that a ULPA filter, which is found in the air shower, filters out 99.99% of the micro-droplets of microbes? With encapsulators, it is also possible to capture the particles at the source, without absorbing the product introduced into the capsules, in particular by creating a negative-pressure environment.

We believe that the best dust collector is the one that perfectly meets your needs. The system must also enable you to save you money. Our experts can suggest some sustainable options for you that are well thought out to minimize production shutdowns, repairs and obviously energy consumption. Here is a quick look at what we can offer you:

• Innovative solutions with an excellent service life, such as our ambient temperature control system for laboratories and storage areas.
• Equipment approved by the NFPA standards for preventing incidents.
• A team consisting of engineers and specialists is available to you for breakdowns and preventive maintenance.

Foundries and Their Contaminants: What Do You Need to Know?

In foundries, the castings give off toxic fumes, and very hazardous heavy metal particles can be released by the tanks. Since your processes are not always used continuously, this intermittent operation facilitates the capture of harmful substances. A number of risk factors also come into play:

• Are your facilities tailored to the deflagration risk associated with certain explosive metals, like aluminum?
• What types of particles do your processes release? Do they produce zinc or aluminum dust, which is especially harmful to health?
• Do you have adequate containment and suctioning solutions in place?

Are you aware of the risks associated with your processes?

In addition to the issues of cooling the fumes that enter the dust collector and controlling sparks, the system’s cleanliness is a major challenge in a smelter, especially for the dust collector’s hopper. Particles tend to agglomerate on its walls and can block the passage of materials.

If the outlets are blocked, dust can be pushed in the opposite direction into the dust collector, and even reach the outer walls of the filters. Particles that manage to get through the fabric of the filter media can cause unexpected pressure differences. And that fine situation can cause the dust collector to malfunction, and even emission plumes to escape during the self-cleaning cycles.

One way to remedy this problem is to establish a systematic maintenance program and, if necessary, add suitable attachments.

How can the risks be reduced in foundries?

Your industry must control the particles generated by its operations, for example by capturing the fumes and heavy metal dust with an adequate suctioning system. To reduce the risks of fire or explosion, you must also manage sparks and prevent them from being drawn into the dust collection system, in addition to ensure that the fumes cool down. Whether it’s a steel mill, aluminum smelter or steel smelter, our experts can advise you on choosing a dust collector and put preventative measures in place tailored to your operations and to the health and safety standards.

What is the Best Dust Collector for foundries?

Since every smelter has its specific characteristics, there is no one-size-fits-all solution. A number of options are available to you: cyclone dust collectors can capture raw particles as well as act as a spark arrester. Wet scrubbers, instead, collect fine, very explosive particles. For collecting and handling dry materials, baghouse or vertical cartridge dust collectors are also good solutions. You should also have an effective containment system above the crucible containing the molten metal.

We believe that the best dust collector is the one that perfectly meets your needs. The system must also enable you to save money! Our experts can suggest some sustainable options for you that are well thought out to minimize repairs and energy consumption. Here’s an overview of what we can offer you:

• Innovative solutions with an excellent service life, such as our system that handles variable volumes.
• Integrated solutions for recovering the energy used by your drying and pre-drying systems, your steam boilers, and other machines.
• Diluting solutions to cool the air captured above your processes.
• Equipment approved by the NFPA standard for preventing incidents.
• A team consisting of engineers and specialists is available to you for breakdowns and preventive maintenance.

Risks associated with pulp and paper: what do you need to know?

From paper or cardboard strips to clouds of fine volatile particles, you know as well as we do that your processes generate a great deal of dust. What about the hazards associated with your operations and the standards to be met? Examine your facilities and ask yourself:

• Is there a risk of deflagration associated with the particles emitted? Since paper and cardboard are organic compounds, they are highly explosive. Do you have the necessary measures in place to contain an explosion and protect your workforce?
• What types of dust are produced by your operations? Do their various shapes and fibres impact how they are captured?
• You have to manage a large volume of fast-paced production. Do you have dust collection solutions in place to prevent service disruptions due to paper clogging up your processes?

Pulp and Paper: Protect Your Workers’ Health

Whether you operate a paper plant, a sorting facility or a printing company, your dust collector is your best ally. In addition to your high production volume issues and the competitiveness of your industry, there is also the health and safety of your workforce. Breathing dusts from fine papers, sanitary tissue products, and cardboard over an extended period poses a health risk to the workers.

If these particles are not controlled through adequate ventilation, they can cause respiratory health problems. For example, your workforce may develop allergies to cellulose dust (main component of paper), asthma and other lung diseases. The Canadian federal regulations and the RSST in Quebec have set occupational exposure limits (OELs) for dust; cellulose has an OEL of 10 mg/m³ of respirable dust. A limit to keep an eye on!

Paper and cardboard: how can you reduce the risk of explosion?

Did you know that cellulose dust is highly explosive? All it takes is a spark, a static discharge, or friction between moving particles to cause a deflagration. You must therefore ensure that you meet the NFPA standards pertaining to the risks of fire and explosion. To comply with them and help you protect your workers, our experts can help you choose a dust collector tailored to your needs.

What is the Best Dust Collector for Pulp and Paper?

Your dust collection system depends on your facilities: based on your processes and the size of the company, a number of options are available to you. The larger the work environment, the greater the volume of air to be managed, which influences the choice of dust collector. Your system must also provide good source capture in order to prevent the formation of harmful and explosive dust clouds. It must also be well thought out in order to prevent pieces of paper or cardboard from getting caught in your processes.

We believe that the best dust collector must perfectly meet your needs. It’s also the one that enables you to save money. Our experts can suggest some sustainable options for you that are well thought out to minimize production shutdowns, repairs and energy consumption. Here’s an overview of what we can offer you:

• Centralized control system making it possible to optimize operating costs at the process level.
• Integrated paper trim capture solutions for the milling and pneumatic conveying systems.
• Equipment approved by the NFPA standard for preventing incidents.
• A team consisting of engineers and specialists is available to you for breakdowns and preventive maintenance.