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Down with Road Dust

Abstract Road
Dust is a significant problem for persons who travel on unpaved roadways and for the nearby environment into which tons of potentially hazardous particulate matter are sent each year. While traditional dust suppressants are widely used, application of such products can pose its own set of potential human and environmental health effects. Dust Stop, a newly developed starch-based dust suppressant offers the potential to quell transportation-related particulate matter in a safer way.

The Starch Solution
According to Cypher spokesperson Todd Burns, the need for a new type of dust suppressant was obvious from the logistical and environmental problems rife among traditional suppressants. Then, he says, Cypher discovered starch derivatives as a tackifier for hydroseeding applications--mixing mulch, seed, fertilizer, and water into a slurry that is sprayed on the ground. "The basic ideas are the same: spraying a substance over the top of a surface and having it stay there for a designated period of time," says Burns. "So we figured if the starch could bond to the soil surface, it should be able to do so on a road surface as well."

Stopping dust safely. A sprayer is used to apply the starch-based Dust Stop suppressant to a rural roadway. Image credit: Cypher International Ltd.

Burns says Dust Stop can be used on gravel, limestone, dirt, sand, or any other unpaved roadbed. According to Burns, the liquified starch forms a chemical bond with the particles on the surface of the road, and the larger the particle size, the more efficiently the product will function. "Smaller particles will allow Dust Stop to leach a little farther from the surface," he says, "while material with larger particle sizes will help contain Dust Stop closer to the surface and help it form a thicker layer of binding protection on the top."

Dust Stop promotional materials say the product has been designed for high-, moderate-, and low-temperature applications. Dust Stop is made entirely with natural starches that are completely biodegradable. While the exact composition of Dust Stop (as well as its cost information) is proprietary, the company's material safety data sheet identifies it as a "modified polysaccharide. The firm PSC Analytical Services performed the rainbow trout 96-hour pass/fail toxicity test (a test that measures the effect of exposure to a test sample on the survival of young rainbow trout over a 96-hour period) on Dust Stop, and test results showed 0% mortality after 96 hours.

Dust Stop has been tested on unpaved roadways in China, Canada, and other countries, and is currently being tested on a heavily traveled dirt road outside of Prescott, Arizona. Dust Stop is indeed a viable alternative to traditional dust suppressants and preliminary results suggest that the starch solution may bring about a healthy resolution to the problem of dusty unpaved roads.

Dust Stop: Multiple-Use Environmentally Friendly Dust Suppressant [company website]. Winnipeg, Manitoba: Cypher International. Available: duststop.html[accessed 17 November 2003].

Gebhart DL, Hale TA, Michaels-Busch K. 1996. Dust Control Material Performance on Unsurfaced Roadways and Tank Trails. USAEC/USACERL Technical Report SFIM-AEC-ET-CR-96196. Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD: U.S. Army Environmental Center.

Sanders TG, Addo JQ. 1993. Effectiveness and Environmental Impact of Road Dust Suppressants. MPC-94-28. Fargo, ND: Mountain Plains Consortium [for the U.S. Department of Transportation].

Watson JG, Chow JC, Pace TG. Fugitive dust emissions. In: Air Pollution Engineering Manual, Second Edition (Davis WT, ed). New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons, 2000:117-135.

Environmental Health Perspectives, the peer-reviewed journal of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, is an important vehicle for the dissemination of environmental health information and research findings. With an impact factor of 3.40, EHP ranks third among 132 environmental sciences journals and fifth among 90 public, environmental, and occupational health journals. EHP is read in over 190 countries.