Dust control in pneumatic particulate handling applications

Abstract

In accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure, systems and methods for passively reducing or preventing dust formation in a particulate handling system are provided. In some embodiments, the handling system includes a silo for holding bulk material used to form a well fracturing treatment fluid. The silo may include a chute to deposit a portion of the bulk material from the silo into a blender and a cyclone mounted to the silo to separate dust from a pneumatic air flow and to release a substantially clean air into the atmosphere. In other embodiments, the handling system may include a horizontally oriented cyclone assembly mounted to a blender storage tank, cyclone assembly including a horizontally oriented cyclone separator to separate dust from a pneumatic airflow and a dust collection container to receive the dust and output the dust into the storage tank.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.