Techniques for Suppressing Mineral Dust Aerosol from Raw Material Stockpiles and Open Pit Mines: A Review

About 50% of the global aerosol is mineral dust, part of which originates from industrial stockpiles. Mineral dust aerosol adversely affects the environment, public health, occupational safety, and productivity. The propensity of mineral aggregates to emit dust depends on particle size distribution, specific gravity, moisture content, storage conditions, and abrasion forces. In conventional stockpiles, the tendency to produce mineral dust is higher in coal and coke than in other material aggregates such as limestone, gypsum, iron ore, magnetite, and bauxite. Industries with notable mineral dust production capture and suppress dust using dry and wet techniques to curb nuisance and attain air quality regulations. Wet techniques are more versatile than dry methods for large stockpiles requiring constant loading and offloading. Chemical agents, including organic biopolymers, chemical surfactants, and inorganic, have higher dust suppression efficiency than plain water due to higher hygroscopicity and agglomeration potentials. So far, hybrids of biopolymers and chemical surfactants have the highest dust suppression efficiencies (up to 99%). Nevertheless, there is skepticism about adopting hybrid surfactants due to insufficient knowledge of environmental impacts and hazards to human health.