RELATIVE EFFECTIVENESS OF ROAD DUST SUPPRESSANTS

The relative effectiveness of commercially available road dust suppres sants in abating fugitive dust emission and loss of fines from unpaved road surfaces was assessed in a field-based research project. The dus t suppressants studied, lignin derivatives and chloride based compound s, were used on unpaved road test sections during the severe dusty mon ths of 1993 and 1994 in Colorado, which fell in the late spring to aut umn period. To measure the relative effectiveness of the different dus t suppressants, comparative fugitive dust emission studies were conduc ted on unpaved road test sections using the Colorado State University Dustometer, a dust-sampling device developed during this research. In addition, total aggregate loss from the surfaces of the test sections was measured. Based upon the prevailing costs, analyses were performed to determine the economics of using the different dust suppressants. The research indicated that all three dust suppressants studied reduce d fugitive dust emission from the unpaved roadways by 50-70%. The trea ted test sections retained 42-61% more aggregate than the untreated co ntrol test section. The cost savings of retaining aggregate on the tre ated test sections more than offset the costs of the dust suppressants , resulting in an estimated cost savings of 28-42% over the untreated control test section.