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THE APPLICATION OF CERAFILĀ® CERAMIC FILTER ELEMENTS FOR PARTICULATE REMOVAL ON A LIQUOR BURNING APPLICATION FOR WORSLEY ALUMINA PTY LTD

Prinsloo, P. and Beattie, C.

Worsley Alumina commenced commissioning of a Liquor Burner at their site near Collie in Western Australia in 2000. The Liquor Burner process removes organic contaminants in the caustic soda liquor used in the refining process, and involves a number of key process stages, including a gas treatment train. To achieve the particulate removal efficiencies required, the gas treatment stage incorporated a baghouse. This was commissioned containing both Cerafil ceramic elements and fabric bags. Emissions were expected to be less than 10 mg/Nm3.

During commissioning it was evident that the emission target could not be achieved with the fabric media. In February 2001 the filter was completely refitted with Cerafil filter elements. Emissions within the expected levels were immediately achieved and subsequent refinements have allowed the Liquor Burner to run at up to 80% design capacity. The bag-house in its current form comprises 4 modules, each containing 420 Cerafil XS-3000 filter elements and is the largest installation of its type in the world. Madison Filter, a leading supplier of filtration solutions, worked closely with Worsley to develop, trial and implement the use of Cerafil in this application.

This paper discusses the liquor burning process itself, a history of modifications which were made to the gas cleaning stages and its subsequent performance. Detailed information on the performance of the filter plant is included, illustrating the successful application of ceramic gas cleaning on this process by reducing particulate emissions well below regulation.