October across much of South Africa’s interior is still dry and windy, with the summer rains not yet settled in. Dust-A-Side, the South African dust control company, is using this period to focus on the places where moving material generates dust: conveyors, transfer points, crushers, tip areas and stockpiles. At mines, quarries, process plants and bulk terminals, airborne dust stays a daily problem in these conditions. It affects visibility, the health of workers and the communities living nearby.
Haul roads tend to dominate conversations about dust management, but Dust-A-Side covers the full chain from pit to port. On the road side it supplies binders and non-binders. For the plant, processing and materials handling areas of a site, it offers mist systems, fog cannons and wetting agents.
Handling points are a different problem
A conveyor or crusher does not produce dust the way a road does. As ore and other materials drop, tip or pass through a crusher, dust is released in concentrated bursts, and the wind picks it up fast. Good dust control at these points has to catch the fine particles while they are airborne and stop them spreading, all without soaking the material or the equipment.
For this work Dust-A-Side provides two types of system, and plenty of operations run both.
High pressure mist: fine droplets, very little water
In a high pressure dust suppression system, small volumes of water are atomised at more than 40 bar, producing a fine mist. Airborne dust is captured through agglomeration, and the mist acts as a curtain around the material handling point that keeps dust from moving any further.
According to Dust-A-Side, suppression is the better choice at material handling points. It uses little water, which counts for a lot where water is scarce, and it keeps moisture out of the material, so conveyors stay dry and chutes do not block. The company adds that a suppression system costs less to install and maintain than dust extraction, offers more flexibility than other methods, and can also cool furnace discharge material on conveyors.
These systems are used on stockpiles, conveyors, rail wagons, transfer points, tipping areas, loading terminals, storage facilities, demolition sites, drilling and blasting sites, excavations, quarries and rock crushing plants. Benefits on the list include lower levels of respirable and visible dust, minimal water consumption, less conveyor slippage, fewer blocked chutes and screens, no surplus moisture in the ore, cleaner housekeeping and safer working areas while the operation runs.
Low pressure mist: wetting material at close range
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 often called wetting systems. Wind and temperature have less impact on how well they work, and their maintenance costs are a little lower than other systems, so they suit stockpile discharge conveyors and comparable points.
Covering wide open areas with fog cannons
When dust is spread over a large area, Dust-A-Side uses fog cannons, sometimes called mist cannons. Water under high pressure is pushed through jet nozzles and atomised into a fine mist, which 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 spaces.
The cannons are portable and fit on a trailer or skid. They oscillate and their throw angle can be adjusted, so they can track shifts in wind direction or follow the activity creating the dust. They are often set up as a mist blanket or curtain separating an operation from neighbouring communities. Common sites include plant tip areas, opencast blasting areas, stockpiles and stockyards, mine dumps, industrial plants and tailings or waste dams. Dust-A-Side points out that fog cannons need far less water than low pressure watering and put no harsh chemicals into the environment.
Getting more from every litre with surfactants
Plain water is not always good at wetting fine or hydrophobic dust. HydroPlus from Dust-A-Side is a surface-active agent that lowers water’s surface tension so it wets hydrophobic and respirable dust particles under 10 micron more effectively. It is ratio-fed into the feed water of fog cannons or high pressure mist systems. HydroWet, another of the company’s additives, plays a similar role on non-permanent road surfaces with high fines, and its effect builds up with repeated application. Neither product contains salts or organic chlorides, and both are biodegradable and safe for vegetation.
Where stockpiles and hard park areas need longer-lasting protection, the AquaTarp synthetic polymer binder creates a waterproof layer that will not leach once cured. It holds dust down through dry seasons and cuts the amount of material lost to wind erosion.
Built for each site and tracked afterwards
Each Dust-A-Side project begins with a needs analysis. A detailed site assessment is supported by testing at a SANAS-accredited laboratory, with complimentary soil and water analysis, so the solution fits the specific operation instead of coming off the shelf. Manufacturing is done in-house and bulk transport helps the company reach remote sites. Clients can take a complete turnkey service or pick individual components, and plant, equipment, skilled staff, Safety Management Plans and training are all on offer.
Once a system is in place, its performance is monitored using tools such as DASMetrics and mobile dust monitoring, which provide real-time data to keep a dust management plan working efficiently. Dust-A-Side is certified to ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 and puts health, safety, environment and quality at the core of what it does. That is important 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. Its clients include opencast and underground mines, quarries, process plants, construction sites, railways, agriculture, municipal and rural roads, transport yards, dry bulk terminals and tailings facilities. Products include bitumen emulsion, lignosulphonate and polymer binders, the HydroWet and HydroPlus surfactants, high and low pressure mist systems, fog cannons, DAS monitoring and the DASMetrics road performance evaluation tools. The company is ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 certified and tests sites through a SANAS-accredited laboratory.
Media Contact
Dust-A-Side
Email: info@dustaside.com
Phone: +27 12 648 8900
Website: https://dustaside.com/
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