Major National Cement Manufacturer Benefits from Seaco DustMaster™ Dust Control Treatment

Executive Summary Major National cement manufacturer required a time-sensitive solution for fugitive dust emissions in their limestone material sizing and handling system. The fugitive dust was the leading cause in equipment failures, increased down-time for preventative maintenance, as well as considerable costs associated with material loss and manpower to meet daily environmental standards. With the threat of a $380,000 penalty looming from Air Quality Monitoring District (AQMD), Seaco partnered with the manufacturer and provided a solution within 14 days of initial plant survey. Dust from the first application point area to the final stack-out was eliminated along with the penalty from AQMD.

CHALLENGES To properly capture and control fugitive dust requires an understanding of all areas of potential source, but also thorough understanding of the constraints in the customer’s operation. • Cement manufacturing requires limited moisture addition to avoid exorbitant BTU costs.• Chemical additives cannot affect composition of the raw material and/or impact emissions in the calcining process. • A solution has to designed to withstand the most destructive environments.• Most importantly, the solution has to provide consistent and reliable control.In this particular scenario, the customer would have to shut down their crushing operation and allow the dust to clear to conduct preventative maintenance and equipment inspections. This was not ideal as it is difficult to determine an operational issue when the equipment is not operating.

The Seaco Solution Seaco worked closely with the customer to install a portable DustMasterTM system to address the immediate issues while the permanent system was integrated. Within 20 minutes of install and system optimization all fugitive dust was under control. Total overall moisture added was 0.37%, which was well below the customer’s permissible limit of 1.5%.

RESULTS and Future Plans During the first 72 hours of system treatment the customer’s maintenance department was able to diagnose and address 2 separate operational issues that had been plaguing production operations for 7 months. This also helped the customer avoid a potential month-long shut down and associated production loss. Overall treatment cost of the DustMasterTM program was offset by reduction in facility costs and material loss within 1st month of operation, while providing considerable operational cost-savings and increased production time in the facility. Implementation of the Seaco treatment method also helped improve relationship with AQMD reducing the need for on-site inspections to 1x/year from 4x/year.