Airborne dust particles produced by the processing, production, transfer, or movement of materials are becoming a growing global concern. Fugitive dust particles adversely affect workforce health, and machinery efficiency, and can interfere with production quality. Dust pollution wastes man-hours on clean-up and poses tricky problems when dealing with neighbouring companies and communities. Airborne dust particles can be difficult to remove due to their microscopic size (2 to 10 microns), and these particles drift everywhere, which can be a significant health hazard.
Dust control in mines has been, and continues to be, a major problem. Some mining companies still have trouble when it comes to maintaining respirable and compliant dust levels. This is mainly due to the vast amount of dust emitted in the various processing stages in mines. When left unattended, inadequate dust management is not just an air pollutant, it also causes healthrelated problems for people working in the mines and those living near them.
As the mining industry strives to resolve this, environmental standards continue to change, and mines need to comply with these standards to avoid costly penalties.
Efficient dust management
Suppressing dust involves the use of highpressure sprays and chemical dosing to atomise water into fine particles in order to attach to the dust. It increases visibility and reduces the possibility of accidents, prevents the risk of dust explosion or fire, and reduces equipment wear. In addition, continual inhalation of dust is very harmful.
The dust suppression industry has evolved, from when the dust suppression processes involved expensive equipment and complicated systems (such as extraction fans, bag houses, and electrostatic precipitators), to current methods.
These include mechanical dust suppression, haul road and surface treatments, water, surfactants, non-bond forming and bond forming.
The most commonly used solution is water. This is because it is economical, easy to install, and provides consistent performance if used on a routine basis. Typically, dust suppression methods involve a surface-active agent that is added to water, which is then applied to the bulk material through spray or foaming systems to help lift the dust extinction moisture levels.
Introducing CDC Dust Control
CDC Dust Control is a proudly South African level one (1) B-BBEE company with over 30-year history of specialising in the design, manufacture, supply, and research and development of integrated dust suppression systems and services. We offer practical and powerful dust suppression solutions for conveyors and transfer points in mining and many industrial plants across Africa. In the mining sector, our expertise and solutions extend to both above- and underground applications.
Our investment in, and contribution to, the dust management industry is borne out by the fact that we worked with the Department of Minerals & Energy (DME), the Council for Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR), and recognised South African higher learning institutions to establish the dust suppression requirements for South African mines, and to develop our range of dust suppression solutions. The equipment used in our solutions consists of wet and dry scrubber units, booster pumps, spray fan systems, air movers, water filters, and transfer point assemblies.
In addition to offering mining and industrial dust management solutions, we are currently the only company in Africa that has the specialised ability to ensure effective dust management for both continuous miners and road headers used in mining. OEMs Sandvik, JAE, Komatsu, and Eickhoff all trust CDC Dust Control for dust suppression solutions used on their continuous miners and road headers.
Our origins
CDC’s origins stem back to the late 1980s when the founder, Erol Ribbink, began experimenting with methods of capturing dust in collieries in his spare time. These dust-capturing initiatives began bearing fruit in the early 1990s, and Ribbink was joined by current CDC operations director, Bob Johnstone. Increasing production levels at coal mines and dust loads in the early 1990s led to heightened awareness of health and safety issues and Colliery Dust Control Services was launched on 5 November 1995.
The company’s original focus was colliery dust control, hence its founding name, which was shortened to CDC for brevity. However, the company’s solutions are designed to be used for dust suppression and control, and gas and dust scrubbing, in the majority of mined minerals and across numerous industries. To this end, in 2020 a decision was made to rebrand the organisation and omit the word ‘colliery’ from the name. However, it was important to maintain the company’s existing recognition and the decision was taken to use the former acronym, CDC, as the company’s official trading name. We are now known as CDC Dust Control.
Whatever your dust suppression challenges, CDC Dust Control engineers will collaborate with you to improve your operational performance