Application Dust Management System
Dust Management System
The use of High Volume Air Samplers in Alcoa Pinjarra's Dust Management Plan
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Alcoa Pinjarra's Dust Management Plan documents the dust control mechanisms that are in place, and the Pinjarra Refinery’s plans to minimise fugitive dust emissions from the residue storage area. Alcoa's refinery extract alumina from bauxite ore for further process. The material remaining after the alumina has been extracted from the bauxite ore is commonly termed “bauxite residue”. This material is stored in an area known as the Residue Drying Area (RDA) located to the west of the refinery. The nature of the Bauxite residue and the deposition and drying process results in a range of differing materials and surface textures that have the potential to generate dust under windy conditions. As such, the dust management systems are detailed and consist of a range of proactive and reactive strategies. A significant effort in planning, implementation and monitoring is undertaken to ensure effective dust control is achieved for all components of the RDA including the embankments, stockpiles, roads, verges and drains. |
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Specific dust controls employed by Alcoa to minimise dust generation include:
- Turning over the mud in the residue area
- The use of sprinklers and water carts
- Spraying exposed banks with bitumen
- Applying aggregate to large areas that are not required in the short term
- Road management through application of emulsified waste oil as a dust suppressant and
- restricting access
- Planting grasses or native vegetation.
Alcoa maintains a program for ambient air quality monitoring at the Pinjarra refinery to ascertain the impacts of its atmospheric emissions on the surrounding environment. Ambient monitoring is conducted at locations both on and off the refinery site.
Ambient Air Quality Monitoring at Alcoa is defined as
"any activity carried out to assess the contribution Alcoa facilities make to regional air quality"
Ambient Air monitoring systems covered by Alcoa include:
- Dust monitoring
- Gaseous monitoring
- Weather monitoring
The Ambient Air Dust monitoring program existing at the Pinjarra refinery comprises:
- Residue dust emissions monitoring
- Bauxite stockpile dust emissions monitoring
High volume air samplers (HiVol 3000) are used to measure boundary line and internal strategic dust levels. Real time dust monitors are used to continuously monitor dust emission levels at the RDA boundary. Weather monitoring occurs at a series of secondary stations throughout the refinery and residue area.
Dust monitoring intrinsically requires gravimetric analysis upon filter papers. All analyses are carried out by a laboratory that is officially accredited for gravimetric analysis of ambient air filter papers. Subsequent chemical analysis of samples may be carried out as a matter of routine, or in response to known events, complaint, investigations or as part of an associated project
The full dust management plan from which the above is an extract can be found at:
http://www.alcoa.com/australia/en/pdf/Dust_Management_Plan_FINAL_Feb_07.pdf
Other links
Ecotech Global website
Nephelometer website
Gas analyzer website
Spanish Website
www.monitoreo-ambiental-analizadores.com
Ecotech Australian website