Experimental Characterization of Polymer Filter Bags for Phosphate Dust Collector

Filter bags used in the drying phosphate industry are made with a polymer needle felts; they are used to retrieve phosphate particles from dust air-drying before it's expelled through the smokestacks. Besides, the filter characterization has important implications for the rate of pressure losses across the filter bags. Three polymer filters used for bag house phosphate dust collectors were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray fluorescence (XRF) and Raman spectroscopy. The aim of this work is to comparatively study the chemical composition of filters adopting in phosphate collectors installed in the drying unit of Beni-Idir, Khouribga, Morocco. The first sample (F1) is made with polyacrylonitrile (PAN). The second sample (F2) is the same as the first but it is in his degraded state. The third sample (F3) is an intensive filter jet with Coanda injector and combi-jet (IFJCC). The fourth sample (F4) is treated polymer filter. Results reveal that both (F1) and (F2) had an orthorhombic crystalline structure, while (F3) and (F4) had a monoclinic one. XRD suggests that (F1), (F2), and (F3) have crystallites size of 91, 72, and 66 nm, respectively. XRF and Raman spectroscopy propose that (F3) and (F4) had almost the same chemical composition. Moreover, the achieved results are generally incoherent with the expected structural characteristics reported in the literature, and the outcomes of this study could be induced to other bag house's applications.