Global Road Technology focuses on dust suppression to reduce air pollution

Press Release: March 25, 2022

World-leading engineering firm Global Road Technology (GRT) is working closely with the mining and agricultural sectors to reduce air pollution by prioritising dust suppression as a key focus. 

GRT is recognised as one of the leading companies across the Asia-Pacific region in the field of dust control and is emerging from the pandemic with new techniques, process applications, and products with the singular goal of cementing its reputation as the Australian market leader in this space. 

This evolution of its product and services offering is coinciding with fast-growing industry demand to improve the onsite dust management strategies of mining projects due to community pressure and legislative demands that have seen it develop a combination of products and processes to provide mining companies whole-of-site turnkey solutions to stop the spread of air pollution. 

One of its latest products, GRT Haul-Loc is a direct development of the recent investment the company has made into innovative solutions for dust suppression, and for GRT General Manager Daniel Grundy is representative of the agile and nimble approach of the business. 

“GRT Haul-Loc is our innovative response to the current use of water by the mining industry as a major plank of their air pollution reduction schemes,” said Mr Grundy. 

“GRT Haul-Loc is a specially formulated liquid polymer that is added to watering trucks to reduce water waste by lessening the amount of it used to suppress dust. It is designed specifically for the often dry and dusty conditions of the mining and resource sectors and by using this product the resource sector can lessen the amount of water required for continuous dust suppression by at least 65 per cent.” 

GRT Haul-Loc is specifically designed to negate the impact of untreated dust from unsealed haul roads, hardstands, cleared sites, and large soil/mineral stockpiles that can have a considerable impact on staff, the environment, and the quality of life for local communities. 

This technology is designed by GRT to resolve the issues caused by traditional methods of dust suppression in that traditional methods using solely water to capture particulates are quite ineffective due to the respective properties of the two particles – resulting in them repelling each other like two positive ends of a magnet. 

It has come to the market at a time when the legislative environment across the country is combining with community pressure, placing airborne dust pollution and dust-related lung disease firmly on the agenda of major mining companies as pressure grows for them to showcase how they are proactively reducing its onsite spread. 

According to GRT General Manager Daniel Grundy, the combination of a changing legislative environment, community pressure and client requirements are driving the company’s investment in new products with much higher efficacy than traditional methods. 

“Our investment in research and development has positioned GRT to be at the forefront in terms of technology and industry leadership in this space,” Mr Grundy said. 

“An example of our investment in technology is how we have designed products like GRT: Haul-Loc to plug into autonomous mining systems and deliver effective dust control as well as provide critical data currently missing onsite. It is this end-to-end approach and embrace of technology that places GRT at the forefront of our field and we have a number of announcements over the next 12 months that will further cement our position.”

Source: Australian Mining