Reynolds Soil Technologies (RST) has recorded an unprecedented increase in demand of its foaming dust suppressant product Hi-Foam, with the company recording significant increases in supply every year for the past five years.
The increase in demand comes as mining and quarrying companies in Australia and across the globe search for ways to improve efficiencies and reduce water consumption in order to lessen the environmental impacts of their operations.
RST’s Hi-Foam product uses substantially less water than traditional water spray dust suppression systems used in the industry and it has been uniquely formulated to be more effective at suppressing dust in the crushing and the bulk material handling processes than wet spray systems.
RST is a world-leading global environmental specialist company that develops and manufactures dust suppression, stabilisation and erosion control, and water sediment solutions for the mining, construction, civil and agricultural industries.
RST operations and technical director David Handel said the advantage of using foam was that it stopped dust lift-off in the first instance.
“RST’s Hi-Foam product requires significantly less water than other dust suppression products, making it an environmentally smarter product during times of drought and water shortages.
“Mining sites and quarries within Australia and across the world are having to be a lot more mindful about their water consumption as increased pressure is being placed on them to ensure their operations have less of an environmental impact,” he said.
RST sees foaming agents as more effective in controlling dust than wet spray dust suppression systems, significantly increasing the reduction of dust.
“As such, we are supplying record amounts of our Hi-Foam product to projects in Australia where water is scarce, as well as copper and gold mines in Chile. Chile is experiencing the driest decade in recorded history and the drought is not showing any signs of ending soon,” explained Mr Handel.
“By using RST’s foaming agents these mines are using up to half the amount of water compared to conventional wet spray dust suppression systems and as a result curbing their expenditure on water.
“But it’s not only the mining sector that is becoming increasingly aware of the need to change its processes in order to reduce the impact of its operations and conserve water.
“We are now supplying Hi-Foam as a dust suppression solution to quarry companies throughout Australia who are working with minimum water access to contain hazardous silica dust.”
Hi-Foam is used by mining and quarrying companies across the globe and throughout Australia to control dust in bulk handling processes and is just one of RST’s innovative dust suppression products.
RST also supplies a customisable mechanical foaming dispensing system that produces the Hi-Foam dust suppression solution through the controlled mixing of compressed air, water and the Hi-Foam formula.
When the Hi-Foam solution is applied through the foaming generating system, it creates a robust, flowable foam that engulfs all the material and fine particles in a ‘total dust blanket’ effect that prevents dust from becoming airborne.
