EXPERTS IN SPECIALTY CHEMICAL MANUFACTURING

Dust is a part of the industrial environment and also a major challenge for the mining industry. There are several traditional and modern methods to ensure the suppression of dust however cost optimization is always a task. Not always an enormous quantity of water can be used for spraying, nor the dust settles permanently.
During coal handling and pulverization also a large number of fine coal particles move around in form of coal dust. In industries like Cement, Pulp and Paper, Cotton yarn manufacturing and sugar where large quantities of dust-carrying materials are unloaded and conveyed from one area to another dust creates a lot of operational issues.
 
What are some of the problems caused by dust?
Frequent cleaning of industrial premises as dust tends to spread and settle at unwanted places.
Abrasion of tyres of moving vehicles
High equipment maintenance costs due to mechanical wear caused by dust.
Water permit penalties.
Electronic equipment failure due to dust deposition.
Visibility reduction.
Breathing difficulties.
 
Why Dust Suppressants?
When dust is suppressed using water spray, the particles adsorb water and due to weight gain, they settle down. Due to the movement of air and mechanical rubbing caused by any movement water evaporates and the weight added is lost which makes the particles prone to rise again with airflow.
Dust suppressants when coming into action ensure that the surface tension of water is reduced so that water adheres to the surface of hydrophobic material easily. Dust suppressants also tend to form strong hydrogen bonds between dust particles and water molecules resulting in better wetting properties, and they also make the removal of water molecules harder due to the bond and the required vapor pressure for evaporation of water rises resulting in longer wetting. For substances that can absorb water instead of adsorbing the dust suppressing chemicals ensure that hydrogen bonds are formed within water molecules making water trapped inside the dust particles (e.g. coal) thus increasing the particle weight for a longer duration.
 
Advantages of using dust suppressants:
Better wetting ability
Reduced requirements of water.
Prolonged relief from dust.
Reduction in the number of stages of spray especially in cases where multi-stage conveyors are present, thus reducing both water used and the total cost of energy used in the spray.
In the case of coal fields, pulverization areas and mining reduction of used water also save a lot of cost in terms of energy wastage which is the resultant of energy consumed to evaporate sprayed water before final use of actual fine material.
Enhanced equipment life for mechanical equipment.
Enhanced continuity for electronic equipment.