Cement, Mining & Minerals

Mining and mineral processes produce large volumes of hard and abrasive dust particles.   

Effective dust emission control is essential in these settings:  

• To protect equipment, processes, employees, and the environment 
• To keep production moving  

Industry Challenges

The abrasive dust particles from mining and mineral processes negatively impact filter media and must be considered in dust collection systems to prevent filter damage and leaks. 

• Best practices will consider the following data to ensure proper protection of filter media: 
  • Incoming air velocity 
  • Dust distribution 
  • Air patterns within a collector 
• Best practices will also plan for the removal and disposal of dust to avoid blockages, equipment abrasion, secondary dust emissions and higher costs for maintenance and materials handling. 

Cement manufacturing is estimated to lose as much as 1% of mining throughput to the surrounding environment. 

• Losses come from various dust-generating areas, such as conveyors, crushers, screens, and stockpiles.   
• Two basic strategies for applying dust control to mines and quarries include: 
  • Source collection – Placing dust collectors at the source of the dust emission so collected dust can be returned directly back into the process stream. 
  • Centralised collection 
  • Placing the dust collector in a central location where dusty air can be collected and discharged as a separate process stream. 

Solutions Available

Airtight Solutions is experienced in all aspects of dust and fume control for the mining, mineral and cement industries including dust control at these process areas:   

• Calcining 
• Milling 
• Crushing 
• Screening 
• Mechanical handling systems 
• Storage facilities 

An Airtight Solutions system will have the correct filtration method and the correct fan sizing to give you hassle-free extraction. 

Some of our engineered solutions include: 

• Reverse-pulse filtration 
  • Filters are cleaned by a jet of compressed air in a reverse direction. 
  • These short-duration pulse jets dislodge fine particles attached to filters keeping them free from wear and tear. 
• Reverse air filtration 
  • A continuous cleaning system that avoids the need for compressed air and valves. 
  • Bags are cleaned at regular intervals using the efficient reversed flow of processed air. 
• Wet scrubbing 
  • Removes both particulates and gasses in a single system.   
  • Handles moderate to high concentrations of pollutants. 
  • Handles combustible and nonflammable metal dust contaminants efficiently and cost-effectively. 
  • Ideal for high-temperature applications. 
• Hot gas filtration systems 
  • Used to remove particulate matter and other pollutants from gas streams in high-temperature processes. 
  • Used to protect downstream equipment such as: 
    • Heat exchangers 
    • Catalyst units 
    • Scrubbers 
    • Gas turbines 

We can custom design suitable ducting systems for all plant applications including heavy flanged mild steel construction for high throughput, abrasive dust applications.   

Our motto is, “Do it once, do it right!” 

Client Benefits/Saving/Results

Airtight Solutions provides maintenance services not only on our equipment but also on equipment supplied by others.  We offer a trouble shooting and auditing service for existing plants, and we would be pleased to offer our services for scheduled dust control plant maintenance and servicing.