Dust-A-Side Tames Dust Across Plant Sites, Belts and Piles

This October, South African dust control specialist Dust-A-Side is focusing on the places where moving material throws dust into the air: crushers, conveyors, transfer points, tip areas and stockpiles. Across much of the country's interior, the dry and windy weeks before the summer rains arrive are not over yet. For mines, quarries, process plants and bulk terminals, that keeps airborne dust a daily problem for visibility, worker health and the communities living next door.

Haul roads tend to dominate conversations about dust management, but Dust-A-Side covers the full chain from pit to port. Alongside binders and non-binders for roads, the company supplies mist systems, fog cannons and wetting agents for the plant, processing and materials handling areas of a site.

Handling points call for a different strategy

At a crusher or conveyor, dust does not behave the way it does on a road. Ore and other materials release it in concentrated bursts as they fall, tip or break, and the wind picks it up fast. Good dust control in these spots has to trap fine airborne particles and keep them from spreading, all without drenching the material or the machinery.

For this work Dust-A-Side has two types of system, and plenty of operations run both side by side.

High pressure mist for fine particles

In a high pressure dust suppression system, small volumes of water are atomised at more than 40 bar into a fine mist. That mist grabs airborne dust through agglomeration and builds a curtain around the handling point, so the dust goes no further.

According to Dust-A-Side, suppression is the better choice at material handling points because its water use is low, an important factor where supply is limited. Moisture also stays out of the material, so conveyors do not get wet and chutes do not block. The company adds that suppression costs less to install and maintain than dust extraction, offers more flexibility than other approaches, and can also cool furnace discharge material travelling on conveyors.

Typical uses span stockpiles, conveyors, rail wagons, transfer points, tipping areas, loading terminals, storage facilities, demolition sites, drilling and blasting sites, excavations, quarries and rock crushing plants. The benefits listed are lower respirable and visible dust, very little water consumption, reduced conveyor slippage, fewer blocked chutes and screens, no surplus moisture in the ore, improved housekeeping and safer working areas while the plant runs.

Low pressure systems for pre-wetting

Low pressure systems work the other way round. They apply bigger volumes of water at under 10 bar to pre-wet material at close range, normally on conveyors or where a transfer point begins. The larger droplets are why they are frequently referred to as wetting systems. Wind and temperature have less impact on how well they work, and their maintenance costs come in slightly below other systems, so they suit stockpile discharge conveyors and comparable points.

Covering wide open spaces with fog cannons

When dust is spread over a large area, Dust-A-Side turns to fog cannons, sometimes called mist cannons. These force highly pressurised water through jet nozzles, breaking it into a fine mist that a strong fan then projects over distance. Droplet size is matched to visible and respirable dust particles, which makes large-scale dust suppression possible in open ground.

The cannons are portable and fit on a trailer or skid. With oscillation and adjustable throw angles, they can track shifts in wind direction or follow the activity that is generating dust. Many sites use them to create a mist blanket or curtain between their operations and nearby communities. Plant tip areas, opencast blasting areas, stockpiles and stockyards, mine dumps, industrial plants and tailings or waste dams are common applications. Dust-A-Side points out that fog cannons need significantly less water than low pressure watering and put no harsh chemicals into the environment.

Getting more from every litre with surfactants

Plain water often struggles to wet fine or hydrophobic dust. HydroPlus, a Dust-A-Side surface-active agent, lowers the surface tension of water so it wets hydrophobic and respirable particles under 10 micron more effectively. It is ratio-fed into the feed water of fog cannons or high pressure mist systems. On non-permanent road surfaces with high fines, the company's HydroWet additive plays a similar role and builds a cumulative effect the more it is applied. Neither product contains salts or organic chlorides, and both are biodegradable and safe for vegetation.

Where stockpiles and hard park areas need protection over a longer period, Dust-A-Side's AquaTarp synthetic polymer binder creates a waterproof layer that will not leach after curing. It keeps dust down through dry seasons and cuts the amount of material lost to wind erosion.

Tailored to each site and tracked afterwards

A needs analysis is the first step on every Dust-A-Side project. The company runs a detailed site assessment supported by testing in a SANAS-accredited laboratory, with complimentary soil and water analysis, so every solution fits the operation instead of coming straight off the shelf. In-house manufacturing and bulk transport help get product to remote sites. Clients can opt for a complete turnkey service or pick individual components, with plant, equipment, skilled personnel, Safety Management Plans and training all on offer.

Once a system is in place, tools including DASMetrics and mobile dust monitoring track how it performs, supplying real-time data that keeps a dust management plan running efficiently. Dust-A-Side is certified to ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 and puts health, safety, environment and quality at the core of its work, an important point for operations facing pressure to comply with environmental regulations and avoid fines or stoppages.

Sites looking to assess dust at their plant, conveyors or stockpiles ahead of the hot months will find product information and a contact form at https://dustaside.com/.

About Dust-A-Side

Born in South Africa and now operating internationally, Dust-A-Side delivers dust management, road management and erosion control to opencast and underground mines, quarries, process plants, construction sites, railways, agriculture, municipal and rural roads, transport yards, dry bulk terminals and tailings facilities. Its products and services include bitumen emulsion, lignosulphonate and polymer binders, HydroWet and HydroPlus surfactants, high and low pressure mist systems, fog cannons, DAS monitoring and DASMetrics road performance evaluation tools. The company is ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 certified and tests sites through a SANAS-accredited laboratory.