Cement dust no match for Smart Elbow® deflection elbow

April 1, 2014 by Miaja Cornelius

If you’ve read other posts in this blog, you’ve undoubtedly picked up on the fact that HammerTek’s Smart Elbow deflection elbow is the answer for industrial applications requiring the movement of abrasive product pneumatically from one place to another. Just in case you haven’t, or you need one more reason before picking up that phone, this case study is for you.

Essroc Materials Inc. had the whole cement manufacturing process set in stone save one Achilles heel: moving cement dust produced in the company’s kilns was a constant problem of plugged and surging lines. Once again, the Smart Elbow deflection elbow came to the rescue.

A wet-process cement plant in Frederick, Md., Essroc produces 350,000 to 400,000 tons of cement annually using two 400-foot rotary kilns. Cement dust is produced in these kilns at a rate of 120 tons per day, and this dust must be removed from the kiln’s exhaust gases. A portion of the dust is collected and sold for industry and agriculture, but most of it is recycled through a process called insufflation and reintroduced into cement production.

Back in the 1980s, the plant’s original pneumatic conveying lines were plagued by constant plugging and surging problems. Upgrading the line pumps and compressors didn’t eliminate plugging in the system’s long-radius sweep elbows, and elbow wear-through became a problem as well. Then the plant gave HammerTek’s 5-inch, cast-iron Smart Elbow model a try.

“This eliminated most of the remaining line-plugging problems,” said Ken Gillespie, Essroc process engineer. “The wear problem was eliminated completely. As far as I can tell, none of the Smart Elbow units have been replaced for any reason.”

The system plugs now only when very high insufflation rates are chosen, Gillespie said, adding that the elimination of wear and downtime have resulted in substantial savings for the company.

HammerTek’s Smart Elbow deflection elbow has proven its design worthiness in thousands of systems worldwide. Its unique, patented design features a vortex chamber which effects changes of direction in material flow through deflection rather than impact, in both pneumatic and hydraulic conveying systems. Because the Smart Elbow deflection elbow changes direction by deflection, impact-related wear, fines, and streamers are virtually eliminated. The compact alternative to long-radius sweeps, Smart Elbow products permit wall-hugging layouts which can require up to 60% less linear space than their long-radius counterparts.

Extreme wear resistance, coupled with the reduced cost of system design and layout, make the Smart Elbow deflection elbow the superior elbow in a wide range of conveying system applications. Product degradation due to impact and loss due to leakage are practically eliminated by the Smart Elbow design.

The Smart Elbow deflection elbow is available in a variety of materials and a wide range of pipe and tube sizes. For more information, contact HammerTek Corporation, P.O. Box 416, Bethlehem, PA 17538, 717-898-7665, 800-505-9665. Ask for details about how you can test the Smart Elbow deflection elbow by accepting our absolutely free no-strings-attached trial offer.