CHEMICAL BINDER FOR COATING PAYLOAD IN OPEN TOP HOPPER AND SIMILAR CONTAINERS to Related Applications Not Statement Regarding Federally Sponsored Research or Development Not Background of the Invention This invention relates to methods and compositions for containing particulate matter within open top receptacles including but not limited to open top hopper and similar storage and or shipping Treating a load of particulate material in particular with a binding agent referred to as a crusting to encrust a surface and thereby retain valuable material as well as prevent the spreading of dust from the particulate is Prior binding agents are described among other places in US Patent These binding agents include petroleum and pine tar Other binding agents include phenolaldehyde resin mixed with a polyisocyanate in the presence of a catalyst in US Patent alkaline phenolic resin in US Patent and styrene in a hygroscopic solvent ethyl polyvinyl acetate and water US Patent Additional dust suppressants are described in US Patents and US Published Patent Application 13 and Published PCT Applications A1 and A1 Unfortunately many of these binders cause the particulate material to retain large amounts of water which can lead to diminished value and In the context of increased water content results in decreased BTU content and increased likelihood of spontaneous combustion from water induced oxidation of the Furthermore the binders tend to form brittle coatings which tend to shatter and dissipate as the particulate material settles and shifts due to the effects of transit and Problems due to the brittleness of the binder coatings become exacerbated when the material is stored in environments where the temperature fluctuates above and below This is because freezing and melting moisture further shifts the materials further shattering the binder Prior art binding materials also have a number of winter handling problems that can render application difficult and potentially This is because such products often have a freezing point near that of water and once they no longer Even worse these prior art binder coatings after being frozen are not recoverable even after they have thawed or melted if they have been This greatly limits the conditions in which they can be used and Thus it is clear that there is clear utility in novel methods and compositions for binding the top of particulate materials stored or shipped in open top The art described in this section is not intended to constitute an admission that any publication or other information referred to herein is with respect to this unless specifically designated as In this section should not be construed to mean that a search has been made or that no other pertinent information as defined in 37 CFR Brief Summary of the Invention At least one embodiment of the invention is directed towards a method of inhibiting the release of dust from a pile of particulate The method comprises the step of applying to the exposed surface of the pile a binder The binder composition comprises VAE and crude glycerin in a ratio of between and The composition may further comprise water but the composition does not pass significant amounts of water to the The cure rate of the composition may be slowed to allow settling of the The pile may be within an open topped The pile may be within an open topped railroad car which is moving at least a part of the The particulate material may be Detailed Description of the Invention The following definitions are provided to determine how terms used in this and in particular how the are to be The organization of the definitions is for convenience only and is not intended to limit any of the definitions to any particular means a derivative from a transesterification reaction involving triglycerides including transesterification reactions involving biodiesel manufacturing in which the comprises glycerin and at least one component selected from the list consisting fatty and means a material that has a tendency to form dust particles when or which includes but is not limited to wood agricultural mineral fine or other dust generating and any combination means polyvinyl acetate means non glycerol organic material and typically consists of free fatty and other means vinyl acetate ethylene In at least one embodiment the repeating units of VAE are selected from one of formula and any combination thereof wherein n is the number of cross linking m is the number of first chain and o is the number of second chain or all of and o can be 1 or although m and o will frequently be 2 or 3 or 4 or either or both of the first and second chain units can be left side end units of a polymer chain right side end units of a polymer VAE can also comprise containing additional cross linking units and can comprise additional polymer In the event that the above definitions or a description stated elsewhere in this application is inconsistent with a meaning or which is commonly in a or stated in a source incorporated by reference into this the application and the claim terms in particular are understood to be construed according to the definition or description in this and not according to the common dictionary or the definition that was incorporated by In light of the in the event that a term can only be understood if it is construed by a if the term is defined by the Encyclopedia of Chemical 5th by John this definition shall control how the term is to be defined in the In at least one embodiment the surface of a pile of particulate matter is treated with a binder to prevent the loss of material and the release of dust from the The binder is a composition comprising a VAE copolymer and crude The crude glycerin is derived from atransesterification reaction involving Biodiesel is typically made through a chemical process called transesterification in which vegetable oil or animal fats are converted to fatty acid alkyl esters and crude glycerin Fatty acids and fatty acid alkyl esters can be produced from oils and fats by catalyzed transesterification of the direct esterification of the oil and conversion of the oil to fatty acids and subsequent esterification to The majority of fatty acid alkyl esters are produced by the In any base may be used as the catalyst used for transesterification of the oil to produce however sodium hydroxide or potassium hydroxide are used in most commercial Suitable examples of crude glycerin and its manufacture can be found in among other places in US Patent Application In the biodiesel manufacturing the oils and fats can be filtered and preprocessed to remove water and If free fatty acids are they can be removed or transformed into biodiesel using special pretreatment such as acid catalyzed The pretreated oils and fats can then be mixed with an alcohol and a catalyst The base used for the reaction is typically sodium hydroxide or potassium being dissolved in the alcohol used ethanol or to form the corresponding with standard agitation or It should be appreciated that any suitable base can be The alkoxide may then be charged into a closed reaction vessel and the oils and fats are The system can then be and held at about 71 degrees C degrees for a period of about 1 to 8 although some systems recommend that the reactions take place at room Once the reactions are complete the oil molecules are hydrolyzed and two major products are a crude fatty acid alkyl esters phase biodiesel and a crude glycerin the crude fatty acid alkyl ester phase forms a layer on top of the denser crude glycerin Because the crude glycerin phase is denser than the biodiesel the two can be gravity For the crude glycerin phase can be simply drawn off the bottom of a settling In some a centrifuge may be employed to speed the separation of the two The crude glycerin phase typically consists of a mixture of methyl mong and inorganic salts and Methyl esters are typically present in an amount of about to about 5 percent by In at least one methanol can be present in the crude glycerin in an amount greater than about 5 weight percent to about 30 weight In at least one the crude glycerin comprises about 30 to about 95 weight percent of VAE is a copolymer in which multiple vinyl acetate polymers contain ethylene side branches which form cross linkages and connect the polymers to each other forming copolymer In at least one embodiment the binder composition comprises between and of VAE copolymer to crude glycerin by In at least one embodiment the composition further comprises In at least one embodiment the composition comprises water and the crude glycerin both prevents the freezing of the water and prevents its evaporation thereby increasing the lifespan and flexibility of the resulting In at least one embodiment the binder coating contains water but does not transfer water to the coal bound by In at least one embodiment the composition is applied according to any one of the methods or apparatuses of US In at least one embodiment the binder is applied to a pile within an open top container and forms a binder coating which prevents the substantial release of dust from the pile and the erosion of the pile by the release of such In at least one embodiment the pile is within an open top railroad car and the binder coating prevents dust release and erosion while the car is travelling at railroad shipping speeds example mph 250 The components of the coating composition may be mixed immediately before addition to the particulate material or may be or some components may be and other components may be mixed immediately before addition to the particulate The material may be applied in liquid form by a spray boom having one or more spray In at least one embodiment the binder composition is applied to the material to be coated by at least one of the methods disclosed in US Patent In at least one embodiment the particulate material is drying Often in industrial applications a particulate material is or becomes heavily intermixed with water or another liquid and forms This slurry needs to have some or all of the liquid removed before a subsequent process can be performed on the While drying by a watering technique or if left out to evaporate away the liquid by or the some or all of the slurry dries out and can generate dust The composition can be applied to a surface of the slurry to control dust The composition can be applied to the material when it is partially completely and any combination In at least one embodiment the slurry is Red Mud from a Bauxite mining refining In at least one embodiment the dust that is controlled comprises Sodium Carbonate In at least one embodiment the composition is applied to slurry that is left to dry in a retaining pond or other sort of or or filtering In at least one embodiment the composition is applied as the pile is being When a particulate material is poured or dumped to form a some of the material billows away from the pile in form of airborne This can occur for example when material is loaded into a rail dump storage or The composition can be applied to the material before as it is poured or dumped into a In at least one embodiment the material passes along a conveyer belt before it is poured or dumped and the composition is applied to the material as it travels along the In at least one embodiment the composition functions as a tackifier which holds together the material in the form of larger clumps that are less likely to launch as airborne The inventi ve composition is quite effective and displays a number of unexpected and beneficial Prior art coating formulations such as PVA form a rigid glue shell or This rigid glue shell contains particulate matter when but suffers from a number of Prior art shells tend to be brittle and shatter when subjected to significant movement or With particulate particularly and especially coal contained in a rapidly and bumping the particulate material shifts as it settles into a more compact arrangement and this movement tends to shatter the brittle prior art Railcars also tend to be impacted rather hard when being shunted in transfer stations which further increases the likelihood of shattering prior art binding The unique chemistry of the composition however allows the binding coating of the invention to avoid shattering during settling and while moving at high speeds in a railroad car or when undergoing bumps or Without limitation to theory and in particular the scope of the it is believed that the ethylene cross linkages between the polymer strands function as flexible hinges between the This allows the polymer strands to and flex relative to each other more than prior art coatings while at the same time providing an as good or better effect to the The crude glycerin provides a synergistic effect which enhances the flexibility of the copolymer without impairing its structural In at least one the cure rate amount of time needed before the glue like coating of the composition is an amount of tim e greater than it takes for the pile of particulate material to settle into a consistent Thus when the pile is always held in first by a more flexible coating and later by a harder cured The composition has a longer cure rate than either VAE or other prior art binder coatings have by In at least one embodiment the unique eutectic point of the crude glycerin enhances the performance of the Crude glycerin is known to have a relatively high freezing point to when it is nearly pure than or very dilute than However when it is cut with the freezing point of the blended material is reduced as is the freezing point of any water in solution with the blended As a when crude glycerin is combined with VAE in the above mentioned ratios with and without the overall composition is more resistant to freezing and therefore becomes far less brittle cures more than a composition containing a higher or lower ratio of crude glycerin or other prior art binding coatings would otherwise Moreover as previously many coating formulations become ruined once they become frozen and will not form adequate coatings even after thawed out Because the composition is less prone to it can be applied under conditions in which prior art coatings would become frozen and are therefore EXAMPLES The foregoing may be better understood by reference to the following which are presented for purposes of illustration and are not intended to limit the scope of the Tailings slurry from a minerals processing operation was used in a study to assess the inhibition of dust generation under various treatment The treatments used Water as used by many minerals processing operations to control dust formation in holding dams tailings Comparative example 1 A commercially available dust control product comprised of a Comparative example A commercially available dust control product comprised of a concentrated glycerin solution in Product A a binder comprising a mixture of VAE copolymer and crude A sample of tailings slurry was collected from a minerals processing facility and were placed into plastic tubs x 33 x which were lined with filter cloth and had a series of holes in the base to allow free drainage of any runoff Samples were stored in a greenhouse and allowed to dry for one Treatments as outlined in table 1 were then applied as solutions to the surface of the dried tailings over a 10 week Each application used 500ml of solution applied evenly to the surface of the dried tailings using a pump Tests were completed using duplicate samples for each treatment After the 10 weeks of drying and treatment the consolidated surface crust of each tailings sample was carefully removed and the underside brushed gently back into the tub to recover any dust A vacuum attachment which covered the bulk of the sample area was then gently pressed on the dried surface and the sample was vacuumed for 2 The collected dust coarse and fine fractions from 2 filtration systems inbuilt in the vacuum was After the 10 weeks of drying and treatment the consolidated surface crust of each tailings sample was carefully removed and the underside brushed gently back into the tub to recover any dust A vacuum attachment which covered the bulk of the sample area was then gently pressed on the dried surface and the sample was vacuumed for 2 The collected dust coarse and fine fractions from 2 filtration systems inbuilt in the vacuum was The vacuum attachment also had 4 side inlets that were closed in the first dust For a second collection air was fed air at 50 psi into the four inlets a while the attachment was again pressed on the mud surface and the surfaces for a further 2 mm Total dust collected was recorded in based on the weight of dust collected and the surface area of the vacuum attachment used to cover the surface where dust was The results in table 1 indicate the superior and surprising dust control properties of Product A when compared both to the two separate commercially available dust control as well as water as a dust control While this invention may be embodied in many different there described in detail herein specific preferred embodiments of the The present disclosure is an exemplification of the principles of the invention and is not intended to limit the invention to the particular embodiments All patent scientific and any other referenced materials mentioned herein are incorporated by reference in their the invention encompasses any possible combination of some or all of the various embodiments described herein and incorporated The above disclosure is intended to be illustrative and not This description will suggest many variations and alternatives to one of ordinary skill in this All these alternatives and variations are intended to be included within the scope of the claims where the term means but not limited Those familiar with the art may recognize other equivalents to the specific embodiments described herein which equivalents are also intended to be encompassed by the All ranges and parameters disclosed herein are understood to encompass any and all subranges subsumed and every number between the For a stated range of to should be considered to include any and all subranges between inclusive the minimum value of 1 and the maximum value of that all subranges beginning with a minimum value of 1 or 1 to and ending with a maximum value of 10 or to 3 to 4 to and finally to each number and 10 contained within the This completes the description of the preferred and alternate embodiments of the Those skilled in the art may recognize other equivalents to the specific embodiment described herein which equivalents are intended to be encompassed by the claims attached insufficientOCRQuality

Claims What is claimed A method of inhibiting the release of dust from a pile of particulate the method comprising the step of applying to the exposed surface of the pile a binder the binder composition comprising VAE and crude glycerin in a ratio of between 10 and The method of claim 1 wherein the composition further comprises water but does not pass significant amounts of water to the The method of claim 1 wherein the cure rate of the composition is slowed to allow settling of the The method of claim 1 wherein the pile is within an open topped The method of claim 1 wherein the pile is within an open topped railroad car and the railroad car moves at least a part of the The method of claim 1 wherein the particulate material is The method of claim 1 wherein the particulate material is The method of claim 1 wherein the particulate material is applied as the pile is being formed by a dumping The method of claim 1 wherein the dust would result from sodium carbonate being released by the The method of claim 1 wherein the particulate material is Red The method of claim 1 wherein the pile is within a insufficientOCRQuality