25 December 2024, 08:11
Media66
By Furniture & Joinery Production Mar 20, 2024

Industrial ventilation & recycling – creating value from waste

With the expansion of a range of production services carried out onsite, a scenic construction company based in London contacted Fercell to explore their options for implementing an LEV and recycling system.

The system needed to encompass a variety of LEV (local exhaust ventilation) processes, including the extraction of weld fume, a spray extraction facility and a dust booth for the capture of any dust particulate created during various woodworking applications.

With a large proportion of product created using wood, the client was also keen to consider the possibilities of recycling their wood waste and, furthermore, utilising the output to provide a resource for biomass heating.

LEV installation

The installation incorporated a broad suite of local exhaust ventilation solutions, consisting of dust extraction, with a CAP4 dust booth, weld fume, with MEF-500 suction fan set and ASA-3 extraction arms, spray extraction with a purpose-built finishing room equipped with services extraction and product drying room. In addition, each LEV system benefits from noise mitigation facilities.

The system allows the client to carry out, more productively, a variety of construction activities safely and effectively. 

Dust extraction

Installation of the dust booth allows for the immediate removal of any dust clouds for a mix of process operations, including sanding, grinding and welding operations.

As a standalone solution, it is equipped with aluminised polyester filter cartridges and a pulse-jet compressed air filter cleaning system, to deposit any dust collected in removable collection trays located at the base of the booth for easy emptying and disposal. The integral suction fan ensures complete face velocity across the full width of the booth.

Eminently flexible, the CAP-series of booths are available in a range of sizes, from varied construction materials, filter media and control functions.

Fercell was able to determine the ideal size and specification required to meet the customers’ requirements.

Weld and cutting fumes

To provide optimum ventilation for the metal fabrication process, a series of ASA-3 extractions were installed.

Perfect for the removal of grinding dust, cutting and welding fumes for metalworking, each arm consists of five friction joints, with a wall bracket able to rotate 180°, making them extremely easy to position to the desired location.

The various suction arms are connected to the backward-bladed, self-cleaning impeller equipped, MEF-500 energy-saving fan by a centralised galvanised suction ducting system.

The MEF fan is enclosed within a BH-series soundbox, which not only offers additional protection from environmental factors, but reduces the sound output levels by approximately 10 - 15 db(A), while the electric motor is cooled with air pulled through a low-level grid in the base of the soundbox.

Spray extraction

A designated area for specialised finishing and coatings required the installation of a spray extraction system. 

The solution consisted of a combination, including dedicated finishing and drying rooms, separated and connected by a series of full-height, sliding access doors.

The finishing room is serviced by multi-point dry filtration, mounted within a spray wall, ideal for increased paint spraying extraction capacity, providing a perfect space for product finishing processes to take place. 

The dry filtration media used is eco-friendly, manufactured from heavy-weight pleated card, which is flame-retardant and easily disposable, designed for the capture and containment of overspray from spray finishing applications.

The filters are formed of a concertina, two-part, construction works with inertia separation, with any spray particles passing through a tortuous route and sticking to the media in holding pockets of the air stream.

The drying room enclosure is fully sealed for isolation from the main production areas, ensuring a controlled, clean working space. To prevent cross-contamination of processes, the room is both internally and externally controlled by balanced or positive air pressure, regulated with make-up air drawn through efficient filtration from the main production area.

Shredding for Biomass 

Recycling the client’s wood waste not only reduced their disposal costs, but created a valuable resource to be utilised to reduce their operating costs through the colder months. The properties of wood make it easy to break down and reduce in size through the process of crushing.

The solution, the PY1300 pre-breaker, processes wood waste into small parts (

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