## 5 Conclusions  
This study investigated the effectiveness of four biodegradable by-products from the food industry in suppressing fugitive dust emissions from mine soils. The following main conclusions can be drawn:  
1. Carbohydrate- and protein-rich by-products from food processing reduce PM emissions from sandy mine soils as tested in the laboratory and field trials, indicating their potential to be applied as dust suppressants at mine and mineral processing sites.
2. Rainfall impairs the effectiveness of tested biomaterials due to progressive leaching and loss of the amendments from treated soils. While rain may decrease the additives' concentration in surface layers, treated soil surfaces remain physically intact.  
Soil loss data from laboratory tests indicate that biomaterials' effectiveness decreases with repetitive wet-dry cycles. Exposure of treated mine soils to increasing rainfall intensities led to decreasing soil losses, possibly due to enhanced inter-particle bonding, incomplete evaporation of infiltrated water or the augmented water retention capacity of the soil.  
There is a clear need for standardized simulated dust suppression tests.  
In conclusion, this study demonstrates that food processing by-products can be used for short-term dust mitigation at mine and mineral processing sites. Their application as dust suppressants would reduce dust control expenses and diminish chemical products detrimental to the environment.  
Conceptualization, J.F., J.L.S. and M.B.; methodology, J.F. and J.L.S.; formal analysis, J.F.; investigation, J.F. and M.L.; data curation, J.F.; writing--original draft preparation, J.F.; writing--review and editing, J.F., J.L.S. and B.G.L.; visualization, J.F.; project administration, J.F. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.  
This research received no external funding.  
Not applicable.  
The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, upon reasonable request.  
The authors would like to thank the anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments and suggestions.  
The authors declare no conflict of interest.  
\begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c} \hline \hline \multirow{2}{*}{**Rainfall**} & \multicolumn{3}{c}{**Total Weight Loss (g)**} & \multicolumn{2}{c}{**Dust Control**} \\ \cline{2-5}  & **M** & **SD** & **Effectiveness (\%)** \\ \hline \hline \multicolumn{5}{c}{Chicory vímasses} \\
0.25 L/m\({}^{2}\) & 63.04 & 31.29 & 49.68 \\
1 L/m\({}^{2}\) & 5.35 & 2.72 & 95.73 \\
2 L/m\({}^{2}\) & 0.60 & 0.09 & 99.52 \\
4 L/m\({}^{2}\) & 2.12 & 0.40 & 98.31 \\ \hline \multicolumn{5}{c}{Corn steep liquor} \\
0.25 L/m\({}^{2}\) & 4.38 & 1.12 & 96.50 \\
1 L/m\({}^{2}\) & 1.24 & 0.27 & 99.01 \\
2 L/m\({}^{2}\) & 0.70 & 0.23 & 99.44 \\
4 L/m\({}^{2}\) & 2.38 & 0.96 & 98.10 \\ \hline \multicolumn{5}{c}{Decantation syrup} \\
0.25 L/m\({}^{2}\) & 2.79 & 0.79 & 97.78 \\
1 L/m\({}^{2}\) & 0.21 & 0.08 & 99.84 \\
2 L/m\({}^{2}\) & 0.27 & 0.05 & 99.78 \\
4 L/m\({}^{2}\) & 0.49 & 0.22 & 99.61 \\ \hline \multicolumn{5}{c}{Palatinose Molasses} \\
0.25 L/m\({}^{2}\) & 13.52 & 3.27 & 89.21 \\
1 L/m\({}^{2}\) & 0.81 & 0.20 & 99.35 \\
2 L/m\({}^{2}\) & 0.25 & 0.06 & 99.80 \\
4 L/m\({}^{2}\) & 0.50 & 0.11 & 99.60 \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular} Note. M = mean, SD = standard deviation.  
\end{table}
Table 10: Total weight loss (g) of mine soils treated with different food processing by-products and rainfall intensities (arithmetic mean with standard deviation, n = 3). The quantitative dust control effectiveness represents the ratio of total weight loss between treated and untreated mine soil. Untreated mine soil showed a total weight loss of 125.28 g after four measuring cycles.