A leader in fine health foods for companion animals for 30 years, Dr. Harvey’s recently relocated to a larger facility to enable the company to meet order demands. Mixing, blending and packaging the fine organic ingredients used to make Dr. Harvey’s products generates large amounts of dust that create health, liability and maintenance concerns, including potential fire and explosion hazards, unsafe breathing conditions, and a dust-covered work environment that requires time-consuming plant cleanup after each shift.
The Opportunity
Dr. Harvey’s contracted Clean Air Company to design and install a dust collection system to capture fugitive dust generated by Dr. Harvey’s manufacturing operations. Mixing and blending stations required customized hoods to control plumes of dust generated during dumping operations. Customized hoods were also needed at the packaging stations to protect employees from inhaling dust. A dust hazard analysis revealed that the dust was explosive, requiring a dust collection system incorporating fire and explosion protection into its design.
The Solution
To address the safety and maintenance issues posed by the excessive quantity of dust generated in the plant, Clean Air Company designed an industrial ventilation system capable of capturing fugitive dust generated at mixing and blending locations and on the packaging lines. Clean Air Company designed a duct system delivering 15,000 CFM powered by a 50-horsepower high-pressure blower. The dust collection system was engineered for the proper air-to-cloth ratio to handle the grain loading that occurs during the work shift. A self-cleaning filter system monitors when the filters are dirty and activates a cleaning cycle. The collected dust would then drop into the collection hopper for periodic maintenance removal.
Explosion relief panels were installed on the dust collector to address the explosion risk posed by the dust. Clean Air Company also installed isolation gates in the duct on the inlet and outlet of the dust collector to prevent a deflagration event from entering the building.
Finally, a secondary safety after-filter was installed on the return air duct to ensure sub-micron particles could not re-enter the building.
Satisfied Client
Dr. Harvey’s reports that they are pleased with the project’s outcome for several reasons. First, the dust collection system that Clean Air Company designed and installed eliminated the time-consuming process of plant cleanup, which provided considerably more production time and reduced overhead expenses. The dust collection system eliminated liability from unsafe air conditions and potential dust explosions and resulted in increased employee morale and reduced sick time. Dr. Harvey’s has also seen energy savings from conditioned air being returned to the plant.
About Clean Air Company
Since 1976, Clean Air Company has been designing and installing dust collection systems customized to the needs of each facility. Their dust collection systems help their clients adhere to OSHA exposure limit threshold values, protect employees’ health, and help reduce liability exposure by capturing potentially toxic and combustible dust and other hazardous contaminants before they circulate in the duct system or air. Clean Air Company’s dust collection systems keep facilities clean, improve product quality, reduce manufacturing equipment downtime, extend manufacturing equipment life, and reduce energy usage.
The ventilation expertise of the Clean Air team has made them the supplier of vehicle exhaust extraction and dust collection systems preferred across a wide range of industries, including pharmaceutical companies, chemical manufacturing plants, cosmetics companies, warehouses, auto garages, heavy equipment and rental companies, vocational schools, transportation services, military installations, fleet maintenance shops, engineering firms, educational institutions, vocational schools, auto dealerships, utility companies, and fire and EMS departments. The industrial ventilation specialists at Clean Air’s Woodbridge, NJ facility engineer, install, maintain and service high-quality dust-collection and vehicle exhaust extraction systems to improve indoor air quality for companies in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Connecticut, New York and New York City, including Manhattan, Long Island, Staten Island, Queens, Brooklyn and the Bronx.
Clean Air Company offers service and maintenance contracts tailored to each facility’s needs to ensure its dust collection system runs efficiently and extends its life. Clean Air’s maintenance agreements feature an annual 52-point checkup that keeps the vehicle exhaust extraction system running smoothly and prevents costly and disruptive shutdowns. With access to a large selection of top brands, Clean Air can also provide and install replacement parts for an existing vehicle exhaust ventilation or dust collection system.
