Hi Folks,
I'm going to ask this question here because I'm not sure where else to post it. It's about dirt and rocks.
We're here at Hanford digging up some hot dirt and rocks from the "cribs" and "trenches" that were essentially canals and ponds used to hold RX effluent water. Some of the stuff is pretty hot..up to a couple of R/hr....so far. The problem is this:
When these large rocks bang together, they make dust. Since the rocks are hot, the dust can make some nice airborne areas. The contractor has tried wetting down the rocks with a glue-like product. This product helps a little, but when large rocks bang around, glue or nor glue, the dust flies, not only while the track hoe bucket it manipulating them but also when they get dumped into the haul truck. Water and/or this glue stuff is always manually applied for dust suppression while the rocks are being manipulated. This also helps a little but there are 2 problems with this. First, if too much water is used, it sometimes leaks past the seals of the haul truck containers, which craps up the container staging area, and sometime other things. Second, this glue stuff gets on the bucket and the arm of the track hoe, making contaminated dirt stick to it like, well, glue.
I have already talked to the contractor project lead about installing a fogging apparatus on the arm of the hoe that could be operated by the track hoe operator whenever the thought he needed some dust suppression. This would minimize the amount of water used and do a far better job than a laborer trying to shoot water over the edge of an excavation. For some strange reason, the contractor has not acted on this, which I thought was a fairly simple and effective solution to the problem. I have talked to an operator who used a similar device on another project with good results. Perhaps, since I am only a tech with a mere 2 decades of experience, the project lead thinks I'm too dumb to consider my idea. Or perhaps it is not "high-tech" enough. So, I had a flash of inspiration (or the coffee was too strong this morning???).
There is a product called AFFF (aqueous film forming foam). I know the Navy uses it to fight fires and I'm sure it's used in a lot of places for the same thing. It is essentially soybean protein that is metered into a water stream to make a foam. I thought that this would solve the problem of the dust as well as minimize the amount of water used. If the rocks were covered in foam and they baged together, any (or most) of the dust they made would be engulfed in the foam.
Does any one have any experience with anything like this?
Thanks!