The article presents research results of physico-chemical and environmental issues for the dust generated during dedusting of the

installation for the processing and preparation of moulding sand with bentonite. Particular attention was paid to the content of heavy

metals and emission of gases from the BTEX group, which is one of the determinants of the moulding sands harmfulness for the

environment. The analysis of heavy metals in the test samples indicate that there is an increase of the content of all metals in the dust

compared to the initial mixture of bentonite. The most significant (almost double) increase observed for zinc is probably related to the

adsorption of this element on the dust surface by contact with the liquid metal. The study showed, that dust contained more than 20% of

the amount of montmorillonite and had a loss on ignition at a similar level. The addition of 1% of dust to the used moulding sand results in

almost 30% increase in the total volume of gases generated in casting processes and nearly 30% increase of the benzene emission.