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Air pollution by dust particles is a major health concern in urban and industrialized areas. Actual methods to reduce dust contamination, such as water spraying, are limited, calling for new dust suppressants. Here, we synthesized a liquid starch-based dust suppressant by grafting polyacrylic acid onto NaOH-pretreated potato starch and then crosslinking the grafted copolymer with gelatine. This dust suppressant was characterized by Fourier-transform infrared spectrometry, thermogravimetry, viscosity and contact angle measurements. We also measured permeability, water retention, anti-wind erosion and degradability of the dust suppressant. Field experiments tested the dust suppressing effect on particle matter 2.5 (PM2.5) and particulate particle matter 10.0 (PM10). We found that the addition of NaOH to potato starch improved the reaction efficiency and simplified the preparation process. The dust suppressant demonstrated excellent degradability, as shown by weight loss of 82 wt % after 60 days of soil burial, and the total dust suppression rates reached 57% for PM2.5 and 56% for PM10 in the field. Compared with spraying water, total dust suppression was higher by 25% and 33%, respectively.

Dust is a serious worldwide pollution, notably for nanoscale particles that are both toxic and difficult to control. Dust suppression can be done by adsorption on solid wastes, such as collagen from by-products of leather manufacturing. Here we review dust pollution and dust control, notably using collagen degradation products. Simulation experiments show that dust suppression using modified collagen degradation products reaches 68.2% for particulate matter 2.5 (PM2.5) and 78.7% for particulate matter 10 (PM10). The advantages and disadvantages of the current dust suppressors are discussed.