Dustiness

Dustiness refers to the tendency of fine particles to become airborne during handling, processing, or transport. This phenomenon poses challenges for industries such as pharmaceuticals, food, and chemicals, impacting worker safety, environmental compliance, and material loss.

On this page, discover the causes of dustiness, its measurement techniques, and strategies to reduce dust emissions, ensuring safer and more efficient industrial operations.

Featured Dustiness articles

  • Technical illustration of dust control in powder handling at a transfer point, showing how displaced air and hood placement affect airborne dust release.

    Why Dust Control in Powder Handling Starts With Powder Behavior

    Dust control in powder handling works best when it starts with the release mechanism. A larger extraction system may reduce room haze, but it cannot by itself explain why one powder lifts easily, another stays quiet, and a third becomes dusty only at one specific transfer point. Dust [...]

  • Pneumatic conveying attrition technical illustration showing how particles become chipped and generate fines after passing through bends in a pneumatic conveying line.

    Pneumatic Conveying Attrition: Transfer Quietly Changes Powder

    Pneumatic conveying attrition can change a powder even when the transfer looks successful. A line may run without blockage, and the material may still arrive with a broader PSD, more fines, and altered handling behavior. Therefore, if downstream dustiness, feeding, or blend performance shifts after transfer, the conveying line itself should be treated [...]

  • Powder dustiness technical illustration comparing two transfer situations with the same PSD, showing how moisture history, agglomerate stability, and electrostatic effects change particle detachment and airborne dust release.

    Powder Dustiness Is a Release Problem, Not a Fines Number

    Powder dustiness is a release behavior. It is not a simple fines number. Two powders can meet the same particle size specification and still generate very different airborne dust during charging, dumping, transfer, or refill. Therefore, if you want to control powder dustiness, you need to look at how particles detach under real [...]

  • Powder discharging into a receiving hopper with a small dust cloud at the transfer point, illustrating why universal dust explosivity criteria depend on dispersion conditions.

    The Search for Universal Dust Explosivity Criteria

    Universal dust explosivity criteria fail because explosibility depends on dispersion, turbulence, ignition, and confinement. ASTM International E1226 characterizes a specific sample under defined test conditions; it does not predict every plant scenario. Use a Dust Hazard Analysis and representative testing to set your safe operating envelope. Table of contents [...]

  • Triboelectric charging in powders at a pneumatic conveying transfer point, showing fine powder flow near grounded stainless steel piping and an electrostatic field sensor.

    Triboelectric Charging in Powders: The science, failure modes, and industrial controls

    Triboelectric charging forms when powders contact and separate, creating a shifting charge distribution. It can drive wall coating, segregation, coating drift, and ESD risk. Control it with hotspot measurements, humidity control, dissipative surfaces, ionisation, and KPI checks. Table of contents Why triboelectric charging in powders [...]

newsletter icon

News And Articles In Your Inbox

Sign up and receive PowderTechnology.info news, articles, and content from our partners in a quick and easy monthly newsletter.

You have been successfully subscribed.
There was an error trying to subscribe. Please try again later.

More Dustiness Articles

Editor’s Picks

Powder Segregation Diagnosis During Mixing, Conveying, and Filling

Categories: Conveying, Editors pick, Feature Article, Flowability, Mixing technology, Segregation, Uncategorised

Why Bulk Powder Behavior Depends on Contact Networks, Not Just Particle Size

Categories: Bulk Solids Characterization, Editors pick, Flowability, Insights

Why Free-Flowing Powders Still Arch in Hoppers, and How to Diagnose the Real Cause

Categories: Editors pick, Feature Article, Flowability, Hoppers

Functional Importance of Porosity in Food Powders

Categories: Bulk Solids Characterization, Compaction, Editors pick, Feature Article, Food Industry, Porosity, Rheology, Spray-Drying

Concentrated Refractory Alloy Powders for Rocket Propulsion

Categories: 3D printing, Aerospace Industry, Analytical Techniques and Methods, Editors pick, Feature Article

Silicon Anode Powder: The Manufacturing Bottleneck Behind Next Gen Battery Gains

Categories: Editors pick, Electrostatic Effects, Energy Industry, Feature Article

Graphite Under the Tree

Categories: Editors pick, Feature Article, Flowability, Laboratory, Particle size distribution, Shear

Triboelectric Charging in Powders: The science, failure modes, and industrial controls

Categories: Dustiness, Editors pick, Electrostatic Effects, Feature Article, Flowability

Additive Manufacturing Integration and the Rise of Smart Powder Processing

Categories: Additives, Aerospace Industry, AI, Editors pick, Feature Article, Metallurgy

Powder Plateau S Curve: How to Win When Physics Limits You

Categories: Additives, Bulk Solids Characterization, Editors pick, Feature Article, Flowability, Future

Powder Technologies Within Circular Systems

Categories: 3D printing, Bulk Solids Characterization, Editors pick, Feature Article, Legislation and Standards, Metallurgy, Moisture Sensitivity, Particle Size Testing, Plastics and Polymers, Porosity, Sustainability

Atomic Fundamentals and the Density–Energy Link

Categories: Editors pick, Electrostatic Effects, Energy Industry, Feature Article, Future

Black Mass Powder Handling: NFPA 660, 2025 Safety Regulations

Categories: Chemical Composition Analysis, Editors pick, Energy Industry, Feature Article, Flowability, Legislation and Standards, Sustainability

Selecting the Right Powder Mixer for your blend

Categories: Attrition, Bulk Solids Characterization, Caking, Editors pick, Know How, Mixing technology, powders, Shear