Status of efforts by oil mill machinery manufacturers to control fugitive dust emissions

Abstract Machinery manufacturers who serve the cottonseed crushing industry are fully aware of the existing fugitive dust problems. The main problem lies in the unique characteristic of cottonseed as being a non‐free‐flowing material until after lint removal. This characteristic is compounded by varying degrees of moisture. Therefore, a totally enclosed cottonseed cleaner in a dust‐tight shroud is not practical due to periodic choke‐ups, tail‐over from the top trays and the frequent necessity to manually clean the screens. Delintering equipment has been successfully equipped with canvas drapes connecting the feeder to the top of the roll box front as well as hinged doors that connect the black seed chutes to the bottom of the roll box. Dust and noise levels have been reduced, but not eliminated. Rock and shale traps between the white seed tank and cleaning rooms, as well as within the lint rooms and separating rooms, help reduce free‐fly lint within the processing streams. Rock and shale traps that operate under positive pressure can be another potential dust source which can be eliminated by a dual fan arrangement. After delintering, cottonseed becomes more predictable with regard to flowing ability and more conventional methods of dust control can be applied. Separators can be enclosed as long as maintenance accessibility and operator control visibility are not hindered. The operating air requirements for the machine can be used to maintain an air flow into the enclosure, thus greatly reducing dusty emissions.