Dust, and other particulate matter, raised by industrial, mining, construction and agricultural activities can be an issue for many reasons, including human health impacts, environmental impacts and public nuisance complaints. Understanding how dust will disperse and settle under different meteorological conditions enables Synergetics to advise controls, such as adjusting or scheduling operations or installing capture systems, that allow clients to minimise dust risks and maximise productivity.
Figure 1: Engineered dust controls can prevent exposures.
Synergetics has modelled, and designed controls for, a diverse range of dust problems. This includes:
- characterising emission rates and particle size distributions for different emissions sources;
- characterising PM2.5, PM5, PM10 crystalline silica dust emissions from quarry and open cut mine blasting;
- characterising background concentrations of particulate matter and total suspended particles (TSP);
- using regulatory dispersion models, including AUSPLUME, AERMOD and CALPUFF, to simulate long range particulate transport and deposition;
- using advanced computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modelling to determine short range dust and particulate impacts due to excavation and construction activities in urban areas;
- assessing health and visibility impacts against government impact assessment criteria;
- determining human and occupational health risks due to exposure to respirable coarse and fine particulate contaminants, such as insecticides;
- modelling bush fire ember dispersion;
- optimising and quantify performance of stockpile emission controls;
- modelling dust emissions during shiploading activities;
- developing innovative dust exhaust ventilation systems to protect workers;
- design and optimisation of green belt dust capture plantings;
- design and optimisation of dust capture and extraction systems for industrial facilities; and
- recommending modifications to operating procedures that will mitigate dust impacts at nearby sensitive receptors.
Figure 2: Contours of dust released from a pair of stockpiles exposed to an oblique wind. The dust release rate is represented by the colour of the stockpiles, with blue indicating a low rate of dust generation and red indicating a high rate. The generation is highest on the leading edges of the stockpile.