Air slides repairs inside silos

Introduction
After a series of delays in extracting agricultural lime from the silos, Talos General Construction was
engaged by the Client to repair the air slides which were worn out and clogged.

Work Performed

• Silo cleaning
• Opening all the air slides
• Removing and replacing worn-out and clogged filter bags.
• Pressure test

Scope

A cement manufacturing company engaged Talos General Construction to work at its lime plant where
they were having difficulties drawing lime because of clogged and worn-out filter bags. The latter caused
the plant to incur increased energy consumption because it had to use more energy to push the lime
through. In addition to that, they also faced delays in packing the lime for the market and as a panacea to
all these problems Talos General Construction had to change all the filter bags and canvas that were worn
out or clogged.

Figure 1: Air slides with clogged and worn-out filter bags that needed to be changed
Access

The silo’s side manhole was used as both ingress and egress. A straight ladder was then used to access
the air slides which were at the bottom of the silo.

Figure 1: Air slides with clogged and worn-out filter bags that needed to be changed

Access
The silo’s side manhole was used as both ingress and egress. A straight ladder was then used to access
the air slides which were at the bottom of the silo.

Figure 2: A straight ladder was used to access the air slides at the bottom of the filter.

Solution
Using the straight ladder to access the air slides, the Talos General Construction team started the project
by carrying out a pressure test as a way of troubleshooting to determine the air slides that were not
aerating properly. The results from the tests showed that all the air slide canvases were not bulging which
meant that the filter bags were either clogged or worn out.

The team then opened all the air slides and changed the filter bags which were clogged as expected. Apart
from filter bags, some canvases were torn and causing pressure leaks they were also replaced with new
ones.

Figure 4(a): Talos team removing clogged filter bags and worn-out canvas (b) The team inserting new filter bags and securing
the air slide.

Results
The replacement of filter bags on all airslides was done safely and successfully in one day as planned. To
maintain optimal performance of air slides, regular maintenance is essential and this will ensure that there
will be less energy consumption to push material out, no material build-ups and less time taken to pack
lime or cement.