Emission Board Regulations and Their Impact on Dust Extraction

What are the Environment Emission Board Regulations?

The Environmental Emission Board Regulations are a set of dust extraction and emission regulations set out by several pollution control boards (for example, the Central Pollution Control Boards) and emission regulatory authorities that outline the threshold from which any dust extraction and emission into the environment must be met. As a result, this impact on businesses with large dust collection and filtration units requires them to reconsider how they filter and collect dust through their current dust collection systems.

These regulations are of particular interest for companies operating in or working with companies operating in Indian territories due to the new legislation outlined by the emissions control governing body. The key regulations for businesses to comply with when dealing with dust emissions are:

1. Manufacturing units should not emit dust into the atmosphere above a certain threshold (this can be anything under 7.5mg per Nm3  or 10 mg per Nm3, depending on the site’s location, any nearby conservation site, local cities, etc.)
2. Certain gases need to be contained or filtered before being thrown out. Gases such as SO2, SO3, HF — METALS (Cadmium, Hg, Arsenic, Chromium) etc.
3. Limits on the total particle emitted based on types, such as ‘fine’ and ultra-fine particles.
4. Oil and Gas Industries particulates need to be captured at the time of emission, not after or post-production. This is due to their serious impact on the atmosphere.
5. Boiler-based applications need dust collectors built in situ and installed to catch and address high-temperature particles on site.

How these Emission Regulations Impact Development

The new regulations are extremely important, especially in India and central Asian countries. Recently, India has seen a rapid increase in property development across the country, including core cities such as Delhi, Goa and Mumbai, and other rural towns around the country. This has led to an increase in the amount of dust created and emitted into the air across these areas, leading to stricter regulations being enforced to ensure control over the level of dust emission across the country.

This new direction is to create a more sustainable development and manufacturing approach across the country, forcing manufacturers and construction workers to think differently about how they operate.

Calculating PPM to M3 for Emissions

The acronyms ‘Nm’ and ‘PPM’ might be somewhat unfamiliar to the untrained eye. But dust emission terms are standard for understanding and calculating dust emission within the local air.

Mg, of course, stands for ‘milligram’ and is used to measure the number of grams per litre. The calculation for this is 1Mg or 1L = 1 PPM.

Nm stands for ‘normal cubic meter’ and is used to measure the normal gas flow rate. ‘Normal’ refers to the normal conditions of 0degC and 1 atmosphere at 101.325 kPa. However, for practicality in measurements, this is rounded to 1 bar.

PPM stands for ‘parts per million’. The conversion from mg/Nm3 to ppm is done as so (mg/Nm3) x (22.4/MW) = ppm, where MW is the molecular weight of the gas.

Depending on the interpretation of the regulation, some may state that the total emission allowed is 10 mg/Nm3 (remember 10 Mg is to 10 PPM, so in a volume of 1 Nm3, the max emission allowed is 10 mg, it can also be treated as ppm). Other manufacturing units emitting dust will have a limit of 5 mg/Nm3 (5 Mg is 5 PPM), etc. This varies from country to country and place to place. However, in India, the threshold is very much 10Mg/Nm3 = 10 PPM. To better understand how you would need to calculate PPM, a thorough guide on the emission conversion measurement is your best place to start.

How the Emission Board Regulations Impact Dust Extraction

Due to the rapid increase in growth for industries operating in India that create and extract dust and other granular particles, opportunities have arisen to improve the current operations and technologies deployed. Traditional dust collection and filtration methods are being reconsidered and redesigned, with baghouses, filter bags, dust extractor units and filtration systems being redesigned during the process.

This has led to suppliers re-thinking how the media is used, the types of materials best suited to filter media (such as filter bags and press cloth), and the maximum dust extraction and emission levels any manufacturing units produce. Additionally, this has led filtration unit manufacturers that produce the dust extractor systems to work closely with their clients to gather the data from the factory’s output to better inform manufacturers of the exact measurements the dust collector should ensure to meet the local emission criteria.

Changing Filter Media to Improve Emissions

For the manufacturers of units and filter media, considerations around the casing tightness and suction have yielded innovative filter bags and cartridges to allow for cleaner airflow and more stringent dust collection without leakage. Additionally, the dust collection bags increase their contact with surface areas which allows for higher collection and less room for missing any dust through the filter. Furthermore, the pressure of the bag collar on the drawn edges is increased to allow for higher pressure across the system.

When considering filter cages, the life cycle of the dust collection bag has been considered further. The fitting of the bag-to-cage is being redesigned to ensure that there is no pressure during the removal and cleaning of the bag, resisting the increased wear and tear of traditional filter bag cages and filter bag operations. This activity has led to an increase in reducing stress on the machinery while also reducing power consumption and increasing efficiency.

From an internal process and innovation standpoint, ClipOn’s activity to improve bag lifespan, filter performance and emission efficiency has resulted in the regular pulsating of the bags to ensure the captured dust is collected at the hopper, so it can be reused to have the dual purpose of emission and re-usability of raw materials, adhering to the recycling standards of the EU and Asian communities. This helps cost-to-production for industries in the cement and limestone industries. Additionally, the installed pre-filter with dust pre-separation now reduces the load on the main dust collector. This ensures a longer life span and protects the environment from emissions and pollutants.

How to Ensure You are Compliant with the EMB Regulations

To ensure that your business complies with your location’s emission standards, you should research and understand your local emission regulations per your city, region and county. Additionally, working closely with your dust extraction unit manufacturer will help you both to configure a system that is extremely efficient in the process of dust collection and filtration. A better understanding of the type of solution you require, whether pleated filter bags or non-pleated filter bags to cartridge filters, will yield the most efficient results in reducing your emission levels to maximum dust collection.

Furthermore, you should also consider 6-monthly to yearly reviews of your extraction system from your unit manufacturer to ensure the machinery is working to maximum efficiency. Naturally, you can do this using the collected data from your system and calculate the PPM to see if you’re exceeding your emission levels. This will allow you to rectify any issues derived from the unit quickly.