Dust Control

Dust must be controlled and suppressed to avoid personnel health and safety risks and ensure equipment does not falter or fail in mining, construction and other inorganic dust generating industries.

Why dust control is necessary

Dust control in industry is legislated among most countries worldwide because dust can be lethal. If not controlled, dust can create extreme personnel health and environmental issues. The potentially negative impact on worker health and the environment is exacerbated by the fact that, in the right circumstances, dust poses an explosion risk.

Once airborne, fugitive dust (minute air-suspended mineral dust particles) has the potential to manifest respiratory diseases like asbestosis and silicosis, cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). It also causes damage to electronics and equipment due to its ability to enter minuscule areas. If not effectively managed, dust can dampen your bottom line.

These factors have led to dust control becoming one of the most important challenges at mine sites and processing plants and contributed to the development of advanced dust control technologies.

Benefits of implementing a dust control system

The benefits of implementing a dust controller on your site are numerous. A few of them include:

Healthier work environments
Greatly reduced risk of dust-related explosions
Increased environmental compliance
Less unscheduled downtime

Using water to control dust

In the mining industry, for example, dust from blasting, drilling, crushing and hauling are, more often than not, suppressed using water sprays. Another common and highly successful method is scrubbing, which can be either wet or dry fan scrubbing, application dependent.

Wet scrubbers are considered more effective than dry scrubbers when used as air pollution control devices that remove gas or dust particles from industrial exhaust streams, as well as and those from mining activities. However, there are applications for which a dry fan scrubbing unit would provide the optimal dust control and suppression.

Spray nozzles

The most common method of controlling dust in the industrial sector is spraying atomised water (or an appropriate liquid) to capture airborne dust particles thereby reducing their dissemination. To atomise water droplets to the 50 to 200 micron range for an effective dust suppression water spray, a spray nozzle designed for specific dust control applications is used. In some instances, a 200 micron-sized droplet is insufficient, and some industrial spray fans have been engineered to achieve droplet sizes greater than 6 000 microns. You, or your dust control supplier’s, engineers and technicians, will determine the most effective dust control sprayers for your application. These high dust suppression systems generally use low water volumes at pressures of 50 bar and above. This adds moisture to the air, making them ideal for use at conveyor belt transfer points, for example.

Wet fan scrubber units

In wet fan scrubbers, dust particulate is extracted from the air stream, ensuring a healthy and visible work environment. Fine water droplets produced by the fan turbulence make it extremely efficient in capturing respirable dust. Depending on the dust control application requirements, water is substituted with an appropriate solution.

Air movers, fogger systems and transfer point assemblies used at conveyor transfer points are also well-established dust suppression and control methods.

Dust suppression solution designer and manufacturer, CDC Dust Control, developed a unique tailor-designed wet scrubber system using the CSIR’s Aerotech Division computer simulation programme. The key differentiator of this gas and dust scrubbing solution is its motor, which focuses on high stop/start applications by allowing for the inrush of currents. The dust control equipment manufacturer now boasts 5 variations in its range of wet fan scrubbers to cater to its customers’ power, air volume and flow requirements.

Of the available dust control companies in South Africa, CDC is the one manufacturer dedicated to providing solutions that manage and control dust on continuous miners and mining road headers in the mining sector, and numerous industrial applications across the continent.

CDC Dust Control Solutions

Wet & Dry Fan Scrubbers

For dust management and gas scrubbing in both above- and below ground mining and in various industrial sectors like construction.

Spray Fan Systems

Increase health & safety and improve machine productivity with water spray systems for dust control, tailored to your requirements.

Air Movers

Venturi principle-based CDC air movers ensure adequate air flow within your high-dust mining, construction, and numerous other industries.

Transfer Point Assemblies

Easily dampen dust at conveyor transfer points or elsewhere on site with wet spray dust management systems.

Meeting your dust and gas management demands

CDC Dust Control manufactures industrial dust control systems to customers’ precise requirements. To ensure that our solutions for dust and gas control perform optimally, we have included booster pumps and water filters into our offering.

Booster Pumps: Electrically or hydraulically-driven Atex-approved booster pumps that ensure optimum water flow & pressure for dust suppression and gas scrubbing systems.
Water Filters: Provides excellent protection for pumps, nozzles and other dust suppression system components to ensure a system with highly efficient filtration abilities.

All products, equipment and solutions are backed by a 12-month warranty and supported through CDC Dust Control’s comprehensive service and support offering.

Dust Control

Why dust control is necessary

Benefits of implementing a dust control system