ESS Engineering can design custom solutions to reduce dust. Image: ESS Engineering
ESS Engineering’s range of dust suppression sprays, sealing and belt support systems, and chute designs provide a customised solution for reducing dust on industrial sites.
Dust is common in many industrial sectors as dust is generated wherever there is bulk material movement or construction materials are generated.
Dust from industrial operations such as quarrying, sands operations, and processing plants can significantly impact equipment.
Dust settles on and then abrades moving machinery components causing increased wear, replacement frequency and associated labour costs. Dust can decrease overall visibility and create slip, trip and fall hazards. Some materials can produce dust that has a heightened explosive risk near sparks.
Dust can also create other concerns; in some cases, it can damage ecosystem diversity, forests and farm crops and change the nutrient balance in soil and water.
“When employees see dust, they may not be able to identify the source of the problem because they see it every day and are used to it, but we deal with dust and are able to diagnose the cause of the dust,” ESS Engineering’s accounts development manager for Western Australia Tom Stahura said.
While each site has different challenges and expectations of dust management, ESS diagnoses and tailors solutions to solve each site’s dust issues. “By partnering with our clients and going to the quarry site, seeing what they are trying to describe allows us to take the experience gained to find the right mix for that client,” Stahura said.
ESS Engineering has a history of successfully designing, manufacturing, and installing tailored dust control solutions for industrial operations. To determine the best dust control method, ESS will examine the type of material, the source of fugitive dust, the design of the existing structures, and the environmental conditions.
Stahura explained there are three primary ways to control dust: minimising air velocity and exposure to the material, increasing the cohesiveness of the material and making the dust heavier by increasing the particle size so that it will drop from the air.
Solutions like sealing conveyor load zones, transfer points, impact zones and settling zones from ESS Engineering can help mitigate dust issues. The company will examine the design and integrity of a customer’s conveyor transfer point and install sealing and support systems to achieve better airflow and air control before considering water sprays or chute modifications.
“As a conveyor discharges its load, that material draws air in from above, so ESS aims to minimise the amount of free air getting sucked into the conveyor transfer chute in the first place,” Stahura said. In some cases, spray systems are used at transfer points to increase the material’s cohesiveness, reducing potential dust particles.
ESS’s dust suppression strategy reduces the amount of dust that leaves the skirted zone by controlling the air velocity. Reducing the air velocity that the product is exposed to also reduces the production of airborne dust.
“When there is dust moving with the top of the conveyor and in the same direction, it is important to slow that air down,” Stahura said.
“When we control the airflow at a transfer point, we reduce the production of airborne dust and thereby minimise the need for costly collection or suppression systems.”
Sites that experience crosswinds during certain times of the year may need to apply dust hoods or sealing systems along the conveyor to reduce escaped dust.
In areas where the material is exposed and cannot be sealed effectively, ESS uses dust suppression systems.
Dust suppressing agents can be sprayed directly onto the material, the belt, or the dust directly at transitional points at a mine site including trucks, conveyors and rail cars, with most spray systems operating on a sensor.
Some systems may involve the use of liquid or foams. Spraying the material directly, increases its cohesiveness and can help it act as a sealant to prevent dust from escaping the system.
In applications where water resources are limited, or the material cannot become overly moist, ESS spray systems can use foam or other chemicals to act as a surfactant, cutting down on water usage while still having sufficient surface area to remain effective.
“Foam uses far less moisture than water drops by itself, with additives making the foam expand its surface area 100 times more than one water droplet,” Stahura said.
“As mentioned earlier, dust sprays are often used at load zones and discharge points to help prevent dust production,” Stahura said. “Wetting the belt’s surface can help the material to clump together to prevent particles from becoming airborne.
“Introducing moisture into the air attracts dust particles so that the particles gather enough mass that they will settle rather than be blown away to contaminate another area,” Stahura said.•
For more information, visit esseng.com.au
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