Local manufacturer Roff Industries believes that organisations spending huge amounts on certified explosion-proof electrical equipment could achieve substantial savings by avoiding the main hazard – the build-up of dust.

Combustible fine material can cause serious damage when it mixes with air, catches fire and explodes. A dust explosion is considered a deadly hazard and can occur in a variety of workplaces, from grain silos to woodworking factories.

As a result, companies are required to use explosion-proof electrical equipment that is ATEX rated. Short for the French term atmospheres explosibles, ATEX is a set of regulations that applies to products intended for use in hazardous working environments.

However, Roff marketing manager Jan Jordaan tells Mining Weekly that the risk of dust explosions could be substantially reduced by the installation of dust extraction and collection systems, such as the ones that the company manufactures.

The ATEX zone can be lowered by removing or limiting the dust, allowing organisations to use lower zone-rated equipment, which is often less expensive, says Jordaan. Improved air quality also has environmental and health benefits.

Roff manufactures a range of locally developed turnkey systems for aspiration, dust extraction and collection, as well as pneumatic conveying of bulk dry goods. These systems, mainly used in the food processing industry, will be on display at Electra Mining Africa.

“We use cyclones for most applications, as they have almost no maintenance, and are very effective and power efficient. Most systems are custom designed to ensure efficiency, as very few projects are alike,” says Jordaan.

Roff recently launched a compact spot cyclone dust collector for one point aspiration or dust extraction. The DustEx-1 is a 900 ft3/m dust collector with a 1.1 kW WEG motor.

Roff was founded in 1991 as a manufacturer of compact turnkey maize mills that includes aspiration, dust collection and bulk conveying. The company is also the exclusive distributor of key European suppliers, including modular pipework systems company Jacob (Germany) and Rotary Air Valves by Young Massa (Italy).

Roff, situated in Kroonstad, the Free State, has supplied and installed plants across the country, as well as in Namibia, Lesotho, Swaziland, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Zambia, Angola, Tanzania, Kenya, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Hall 6 Stand K26