Industrial Sweeping
Mr. B.W. Young invented the Regenerative Air System to clean the dirt, dust and silt out of pavement pores and cracks. Necessity was the motivation for Mr. Young’s invention – his innovative slurry seal asphalt emulsion would not adhere to asphalt roads unless the surface was clean. When Mr. Young couldn’t find a street sweeper to effectively remove dust in road cracks, he invented his own – the TYMCO Regenerative Air Sweeper.
Because research findings have shown that pollutants adhere to the micron-size dust particles that settle in pavement cracks, proper cleaning is more important than ever for today’s industries. Dust particles need to be removed before they pollute stormwater runoff or become airborne through agitation by the movement of equipment inside and around industrial plants.
Whether your industrial debris is a light powder or a thick debris with heavy fines such as metals, a TYMCO will pick it up. There is no other sweeper system that compares to the TYMCO Regenerative Air System for removing packed-on heavy debris, while doing what no mechanical broom sweeper can do – pick up the fine particulates such as micron-size dust and ultrafine sand from pavement cracks and crevices.
The Clean Water Act and Clean Air Act affect virtually all industrial activity. Environmental regulators are concerned with the production of all types of fugitive dust and polluted stormwater runoff. For more than 50 years, TYMCO Regenerative Air Sweepers have been used to help industries where fugitive dust and contaminated material must be picked up, contained or eliminated.
TYMCO Industrial Sweepers
Facility Maintenance
It is important to have good housekeeping in industrial facilities. Having a clean workplace is very important for several reasons in addition to environmental concerns – providing a good first impression to visiting customers and business partners, delivering a good working atmosphere for your employees as well as helping cultivate an attitude for keeping the employee work area clean and organized, which can lead to a safer place to work. Manufacturing plants and industrial facilities, should have a good housekeeping plan in place to support these needs.
These items are very important to running and maintaining a successful business, and in most cases cleanliness to certain levels is required at these facilities in order to stay in compliance with environmental regulations. In most of these facilities sweeping paved areas can be a huge part of accomplishing these goals. Below are some benefits of sweeping an industrial facility to help keep it clean:
- Sweeping paved areas such as roads, parking lots and staging areas keep the facility clean which supports a positive work environment for employees and visiting guests such as customers or suppliers.
- A good sweeping program can help keep everything at the facility cleaner, including the materials that are being processed at the facility.
- Sweeping internal roads and other paved areas is a good housekeeping practice that can lead to defining other effective housekeeping processes.
- Keeping paved areas clean by sweeping can reduce maintenance costs by helping keep mobile and stationary equipment clean at the facility.
- Keeping paved areas clean as part of good housekeeping supports a good safety program
- A good sweeping program helps support air quality and stormwater quality goals
Environmental
Most industrial facilities are required to implement a number of Best Management Practices (BMPs) for stormwater runoff quality and air quality management. There are several different BMPs that can be implemented such as adding additional landscaping, installing storm drain catch basins and sweeping paved surfaces on a frequent basis. Sweeping internal streets and roads, parking areas and other paved areas on a regular basis obviously keeps good aesthetics and the larger debris from going down storm drains, but sweeping with a TYMCO Regenerative Air Sweeper will also remove the fine dust particulates out of the cracks and crevices, which keeps them out of the storm drains as well.
More often than not, fine dust particulates can be more damaging to stormwater runoff than larger debris. Whenever there is a rain event, anything left on the paved surface will be picked up by the stormwater runoff and flow into local waterways. The fine dust particulates can contain several different contaminants and toxins like vehicle lubricants, coolants, brake dust and petroleum products used in pavements as well as other contaminants that fall on parking areas, road intersections and parking areas on downtown streets.
Sweeping is very important to maintaining good air quality as well. Industrial facilities that are exposed to the elements can be a source of airborne dust with any amount of wind or if there is a lot of vehicular traffic going in and out of the facility. Large trucks have engines with big cooling systems that move a lot of air and can kick up dust; not to mention, if there is a rain event, the trucks can track the material out onto public roads where traffic may be denser, further contributing to ambient dust issues. Track-out is an issue a TYMCO Sweeper can help address by keeping pavement clean.
Dustless Sweeping Technology (DST)
Federal, state and local authorities are pushing industry to minimize fugitive dust emissions. Industries under certain SIC (standard industrial classification) codes are especially sensitive to these regulations, and must look for an effective method to control fugitive emissions and meet demanding state and federal regulations. Because of the nature of the unique debris being swept, many industries cannot use water as a means of dust suppression. If you’re looking for a sweeper that creates little to no dust while sweeping or a waterless dust suppression system, look to TYMCO Dustless Sweeping Technology.
TYMCO is pleased to, once again, accept the leadership role of developing a sweeper that can sweep in the harsh conditions of winter snow and anti-skid material without the use of water as a dust control, as well as provide year-round peace of mind PM10 and PM2.5 (particulate matter) removal from sweeping surfaces all around the world.
The concept of dustless sweeping began more than 30 years ago at TYMCO. The requirements of the many different types of customers worldwide continue to update and improve the DST-6 and DST-4 as additional technology is developed.
