Concrete plays a crucial role in the infrastructure of contemporary life, and its manufacturing is an expanding area of industrial production. Asphalt concrete is used in many different applications, most commonly in the construction of highways and roads. A variety of mixtures can be used to manufacture asphalt concrete, some of which include hot mix, cold mix, cut-back, and mastic. The main components of asphalt concrete are sand, gravel, crushed stone, slag, rock dust, powder, or asphalt binder. The production process of asphalt concrete includes heating and drying the aggregate, heating of the binder, heating of the mixture and its application, which results in a lot of dust, as the aggregate is often composed of natural rock, fly ash, bottom ash, steel slag, crumb rubber, etc. The components used in asphalt concrete production often turn into dust during the mixing part of the manufacturing process.
The dust that can be inhaled generated from concrete has significant quantities of respirable quartz dust, as crystalline silica, primarily in the form of quartz, is a key ingredient in concrete. Workers at concrete production facilities are exposed to a silicosis hazard which is a fatal lung disease that is caused by breathing in small particles of crystalline silica. Moreover, the dust produced by the process may disrupt the manufacturing process, cause premature equipment aging and failure, etc.
Dust and pollution control at asphalt concrete production facilities is essential to prevent dangerous conditions that are detrimental to worker’s health and premature equipment failure. Dry dust collectors are the most common way of dust removal of concrete plants; however, this method has significant drawbacks. One of the most critical issues is their incapacity to function at elevated temperatures that frequently arise during asphalt manufacturing. Dry dust collectors can be easily clogged by moisture present in a gas stream. Wet air scrubbers can operate in all these conditions without being clogged or losing the effectiveness of air scrubbing.
Wet air scrubbers are often not at the forefront of the engineers’ list of equipment for emission control due to the reluctance to change from the well-known dust collection methods. However, the upgrade will result in significant improvements in dust control, higher treatment quality, and improved operational costs.
Scroiler™ is a new type of wet air scrubber which has a number of advantages over conventional scrubbers, including being more compact, economical, and eco-friendly than other types of air scrubbers. We have already installed Scroiler™ at the asphalt concrete factory to suppress inert mineral dust. The air treatment consists of two stages there. First, there are bag filters operating at a temperature of 100°-120°C. Second, there is a Scroiler™ system. As a result, the air treatment quality is above 99.9%.
If you would like to purchase Scroiler™, please contact us at info@optromix.com