GE Fabric Filtration Seminars Provide Techniques to Help Plants Save Money, Boost Reliability and Improve Dust Collection Performance

Press release:

06 June 2012

GE Fabric Filtration Seminars Provide Techniques to Help Plants Save Money, Boost Reliability and Improve Dust Collection Performance

 

• Real-World Tips from GE to Help Maximize Collector Efficiency
• Learn How to Prepare for Unplanned Events, Choose the Best Filtration Media

KANSAS CITY, MO.—June 6, 2012—Offering insights that can help plants save money through improved dust collection system performance and reliability, GE (NYSE: GE) fabric filtration experts will hold a two-day seminar for plant managers and engineers, maintenance supervisors and technicians, procurement and environmental leaders. The seminar is June 12-13, 2012, in Kansas City, Mo.

“The workshop’s takeaways are practical tips and techniques and a better understanding of how dust collectors work as an integral part of an operation,” says Corinne Prince-Fields, application engineer with GE Energy’s Air Filtration. “Attendees return not only with knowledge but the practical skills to help improve energy savings at their plants, decrease chances of unplanned outages and stay on top of changing industry regulations.”

Relevant for anyone who works with dust collection—including power plants, cement and lime producers, steel operations, process industries, food and pharmaceuticals—the workshop may be useful in meeting requirements for continuing education. GE’s seminars utilize knowledge gained from more than 40 years of working with customers to tackle industrial dust collection needs.

“I’ve been to GE’s seminars four or five times and have sent others over the years,” says Gary Fraley, maintenance supervisor Ash-BOP, with East Kentucky Power Cooperative. “The workshop gives new-hires a better understanding of baghouse operations from end to end. And for those who are repeat attendees, it’s a good refresher and helps us stay on top of new technology.”

Participants can sign up for this month’s seminar through June 8. GE plans to repeat the workshop in November. In addition, GE offers a quarterly dust collection webinar series online to address ongoing dust collection trends. The next three-part webinar series occurs in July.

“In-person seminars and webinars give colleagues a chance to exchange best practices and ideas across industries,” says Prince-Fields. “We can share our collected knowledge and in the process, we at GE continue to learn a lot—which helps us better serve our customers.”

For more information or to register for GE’s dust collection seminars and webinars, visit ge-energy.com/onelessworry, or contact Steven Harlan, GE Energy’s Air Filtration education leader.

About GE

GE (NYSE: GE) works on things that matter. The best people and the best technologies taking on the toughest challenges. Finding solutions in energy, health and home, transportation and finance. Building, powering, moving and curing the world. Not just imagining. Doing. GE works. For more information, visit the company's website at www.ge.com.

GE Energy works connecting people and ideas everywhere to create advanced technologies for powering a cleaner, more productive world. With more than 100,000 employees in over 100 countries, our diverse portfolio of product and service solutions and deep industry expertise help our customers solve their challenges locally. We serve the energy sector with technologies in such areas as natural gas, oil, coal and nuclear energy; wind, solar, biogas and water processing; energy management; and grid modernization. We also offer integrated solutions to serve energy- and water-intensive industries such as mining, metals, marine, petrochemical, food & beverage and unconventional fuels.

West Pinal County in nonattainment for 1987 dust standard, EPA says

For Immediate Release: May 23, 2012

Contact: Margot Perez-Sullivan, perezsullivan.margot@epa.gov

West Pinal County in nonattainment for 1987 dust standard, EPA says

SAN FRANCISCO— The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency declared a portion of western Pinal County, Ariz. to be in nonattainment for the 1987 federal PM₁₀ coarse particulate matter standard.

Today’s redesignation is based on EPA’s October 2010 proposal and recent air quality monitoring data for PM_10. Based on comments in response to the 2010 proposal, EPA reduced the size of the nonattainment area, relative to its proposed nonattainment area, by about 36 percent.

Monitoring results showed widespread, frequent, and in some instances, severe, violations over the last decade. In fact, western Pinal County PM₁₀ levels are among the worst in the country.

EPA sets national protective standards for pollutants such as particulate matter that threaten public health. Where air quality exceeds a health-based standard, the Clean Air Act requires the area to be designated as a nonattainment area for that pollutant.

Particulate matter is a serious threat to human health. Major concerns include effects on breathing and respiratory systems, damage to lung tissue and premature death. The elderly, children, and people with chronic lung disease or asthma are especially vulnerable.

The Clean Air Act requires the state to submit a plan containing measures that will reduce airborne particulate matter until the area meets the federal air quality standard. The plan is due within 18 months. EPA is working closely with the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality on the plan and expects a submission soon.

The primary causes of dust pollution in the Pinal County area are from roads, agriculture, feedlots, construction and industrial processes.

Particulate matter is the term for solid or liquid particles found in the air. Some particles are large or dark enough to be seen as soot or smoke. Others are so small they can be detected only with an electron microscope. In 1987, EPA replaced the earlier air quality standard with a PM₁₀ standard. The new standard focused on smaller particles that are likely responsible for adverse health effects because of their ability to reach the lower regions of the respiratory tract and includes particles with a diameter of 10 micrometers or less (0.0004 inches or one-seventh the width of a human hair).

For more information including a link to a map of the nonattainment area, please visit:

http://www.epa.gov/region9/air/az/pinal/index.html