Dust-A-Side Vacuum System

Dust generated by large drilling equipment becomes problematic if not handled immediately. Many materials cannot be drilled using a wet drilling system, instead, the swarf is removed from the drill hole by means of compressed air. This creates airborne dust that is not only a nuisance, it is an environmental and health hazard. From these conditions the need for a reliable, efficient and versatile dust capture and treatment system is clear.

HOW IT WORKS

The DV 3000 unit firstly generates a vacuum that collects the dust from the drilling operation using a large liquid ring vacuum pump. The incoming air and dust mixture is separated by means of a large collection hopper acting as a cyclonic separator and later a series of bag filters. Once the dust is in the collection hopper it is treated with Dust-A-Side's proprietary binder HydroPlus.

The addition of HydroPlus facilitates the formation of pellets in the collection hopper. The pellets are hard enough to survive discharge and further handling without becoming dust sources later in the process. HydroPlus will bind even difficult to handle materials such as Kimberley and Coal fines.

The pelletised product can then be discharged into the material handling system to ensure any valuable material can be recovered from the collected dust.

APPLICATIONS

• Drill rigs both above and below ground
• Spilled fines collection around conveyors
• Heavy equipment that generates dust such as loaders and excavators

 KEY BENEFITS

• Collect the dust preventing re-aerosolization
• Allow the processing of collected dust to extract remaining material
• Minimizes fine dust generation in later treatment stages

The performance of these systems can be further improved by adding a product like HydroPlus, which lowers the surface tension of water particles and makes it easier for the water and dust particles to agglomerate, particularly when managing hydrophobic materials such as coal and other fine ores.