The reduction of dust emissions in bulk handling installations

Dust emissions from diffuse sources are part of the existing air pollution. The dust is mainly due to industrial production processes where the greatest part, about 90 %, is caused by the storage and transfer of bulk solids. The main defference between point and diffuse sources lie in the emission mechanisms of particles as well as in the time dependency of arising emissions. Because of these differences the numerous existing techniques for the assessment of point dust sources and existing models for the calculation of the spread are not adequate. The theoretical approach used here to introduce the Magnus force as a decisive factor for dust rotation was verified by dumping tests in air and water and by assessing the forces occuring. By the evaluation of the measures for the reduction of dust during the discharge of clamshell buckets and during the transfer of bulk solids from one conveyor to another dust emissions could be reduced by 92 % by taking into consideration certain principles .