Fugitive dust emission control study for a developed smart dry fog system

Area of Science:

• Environmental Engineering
• Mining Engineering
• Air Pollution Control

Background:

• Increasing air pollution from dust emissions in mining and industrial areas poses significant risks.
• Fugitive dust from crushing, screening, and material handling in mines impacts worker health and local environments.
• Existing dust control methods may be insufficient or affect mineral processing.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and evaluate an innovative automated dry fog dust suppression system (DFDSS) for mining operations.
• To assess the effectiveness of DFDSS in reducing fugitive dust emissions in an iron ore mine.
• To determine the impact of DFDSS on mineral processing and material moisture content.

Main Methods:

• Development of an automated DFDSS utilizing hybrid nozzles, sensors, actuators, controllers, compressors, and water filtration.
• Installation and performance testing of the DFDSS in a crushing and screening plant at an Indian iron ore mine.
• Measurement of fugitive dust emission concentrations before and after DFDSS implementation.

Main Results:

• Fugitive dust emission concentrations were reduced from 354–7040 μg/m³ to 91–300 μg/m³ after DFDSS installation.
• Reduced dust levels remained within the permissible limit of 1200 μg/m³ at 25 ± 2 m downwind.
• The system added only 0.032% moisture to the iron ore, well below the 0.1% acceptable limit.

Conclusions:

• The automated DFDSS is highly effective in controlling fugitive dust emissions in mining environments.
• The system operates efficiently without negatively impacting the mineral processing performance or material quality.
• DFDSS offers a viable and implementable solution for dust emission problems in various mining and allied industries.