Results of a Baghouse Operation and Maintenance Survey on Industry and Utility Coal-Fired Boilers

Abstract

In 1979, the results of an operation and maintenance fabric filter survey conducted by APAC were presented. In view of the potential usefulness of such information, Manhattan college was requested by APAC to follow up the initial survey with another improved version. To maximize the usefulness and insure a greater degree of validity to the conclusions, it was decided to limit the participants to users of coal-fired boilers only. A more comprehensive questionaire and one more suitable to computer interpretation than that used in the first study was developed and employed. In this paper, the results of an analysis of these data are presented. Some of the conclusions and opinions of the authors include: (1) Bag life may well be greater than the 2-3 yr reported in the literature, a fact that could reduce projected operating costs for proposed units. (2) Abrasion/erosion difficulties, once a major factor for baghouse users, apparently has been resolved by the equipment manufacturers. (3) Compliance is not a problem with the baghouse. (4) Both utilities and industry would recommend a baghouse to control fly ash for other boilers. (5) O and M problems are more severe with pulse-jet than with reverse-air systems. (6) The threemore » most prevalent O and M problems appear to be higher than design pressure drop, bag failure, and the fly ash handling system.« less