ETA Developing Pollution Controls for Deere Foundry

ETA Engineering Inc. will design, build, and install three new dust collection systems for the John Deere Foundry in Waterloo, IA, according to a recent contract announcement. The Avila, IN, contractor is a full-service air-pollution control specialist that has supplied dust-collection systems to John Deere Foundry since 1995. Deere & Co. operates the Iowa foundry as a captive source of gray and ductile iron engine blocks and other large drivetrain components for the farm equipment it manufactures. In June 2010 it outlined a four-to-five year modernization plan for the foundry, reported to be a $100-million project that, according to Deere, will allow it “to leverage” more advanced casting designs and manufacturing technologies. Savelli S.p.A. is supplying a new automatic flask molding line (120-molds/hour, 1,830 x 1,425 x 560/560 mm); a sand-handling system capable of processing 610 metric tons/hour; and a shakeout system, to be supplied in partnership with General Kinematics Corp. ETA Engineering reported that it has designed a 540,000-ACFM, multi-module air-pollution control system that will control emissions from the new molding line, return sand, and punch-out/shakeout area. This system includes six ETA 2000 pulse-jet dust collectors. The Eta 2000 is a pulse-jet fabric collector with a low-maintenance, welded construction and exacting tube sheet hole tolerance that provides a positive bag seal, according to ETA Engineering’s website. The contractor states the Eta 2000 offers “high collection efficiencies demanded by today's stringent environmental regulations.” A second system for John Deere Foundry will control emissions from the blast finishing area. This requires a 150,000-ACFM multi-module system consisting of two Eta 2000 pulse-jet dust collectors. Both collectors will be enclosed in pre-engineered buildings. A third system consists of a 30,000-ACFM Eta 2000 pulse-jet collector designed to control emissions from a magnesium treatment process. The ETA Fabrication Inc. division will manufacture the Eta 2000 dust collectors for this project.