About the Client
The client operates a large high-performance polymer compounding and packaging facility in Western Europe. Over many years, the site had grown a large number of decentralized dust collection units and dust receivers across multiple process areas and building levels.
These assets supported production, packaging, and internal housekeeping, but the overall landscape had become complex, difficult to standardize, and increasingly challenging to manage from a safety and compliance perspective.
Challenge
The client wanted a structured, engineering‑backed way to decide what to upgrade first, with clear rationale and budget-level implementation choices.
Key challenges included:
Non‑uniform ATEX maturity: different generations of equipment, varying protection concepts, and inconsistent documentation/implementation.
High system complexity: many local collectors, receivers, and partial solutions installed over time, often resulting in mixed ducting philosophies and maintenance strategies.
Decision paralysis: multiple possible improvement paths (upgrade vs. replace vs. centralize) without a single ranked roadmap.
Constrained retrofit environment: multi-level routing and operational constraints required realistic, implementable scenarios, not “greenfield” designs.
Approach
JOA executed a Masterplan to create a ranked, site-wide upgrade roadmap focused on explosion safety, operability, and long-term maintainability.
Plant-wide baseline and asset segmentation
Site survey to map dust collection and dust-handling interfaces, including measurements across key production and packaging zones.
Asset-by-asset classification into practical categories:
- Reusable after upgrade
- Recommended for replacement
- Obsolete / decommission candidates
- Already compliant / fit-for-purpose (retain)
ATEX upgrade concepts per asset class
For upgradeable units, the Masterplan defined clear upgrade directions aligned with dust explosion risk control principles, such as:
- Explosion relief or alternative protection concepts (where applicable).
- Explosion isolation interfaces to process and fan.
- Safe discharge / dust removal concept (incl. interlocks where relevant).
- Instrumentation and operating safeguards to support stable, safe operation.
The emphasis was not only “compliance on paper”, but practical, maintainable implementation in an operating plant.
Scenario design: reduce complexity through smart consolidation
Beyond per-unit upgrades, consolidation scenarios were developed to reduce the number of separate systems where it made sense operationally and economically.
Typical scenario outcomes included:
- Combining extraction points within a process zone into fewer, better-controlled systems.
- Reducing ad-hoc duct routing and improving maintainability.
- Improving stability of conveying velocities and balancing behavior through design based on air-technical modelling.
Air-technical modelling was used to validate conceptual architectures, expected stability, and feasibility under typical simultaneity assumptions.
Scenario design: reduce complexity through smart consolidation
The final deliverable was a Masterplan roadmap, including-decision making matrix, that enabled the client to:
- Rank opportunities by urgency and impact,
- Select a phased CAPEX plan, and
- Align stakeholders on a clear “why this first” story (safety + performance + maintainability).
Outcome & Conclusion
The Masterplan converted a complex, decentralized dedusting landscape into a clear, implementable improvement portfolio:
- A transparent, site-wide overview of upgrade and replacement opportunities, structured in a way that supported internal decision-making.
- A set of consolidation scenarios that reduced long-term complexity and improved maintainability, while keeping retrofit constraints realistic.
- A ranked roadmap that allowed the client to sequence investments and execute upgrades in phases, without guessing and hoping for the best where the biggest risk and value will be.
Key takeaway: by combining a practical ATEX upgrade strategy with consolidation concepts and air-technical validation, the client gained a robust foundation for safer, more reliable dust management plus a scalable path for future expansions and process changes.
After delivering the Masterplan, JOA assisted the client with building and implementing the systems. We still assist the client with Service & Spare Parts.
