Four representative studies were selected to investigate industrial ventilation guidelines for controlling smoke, dust, droplets and waste heat. In the first case, exhaust hoods were designed to improve the smoke capture rates during the pouring process. It demonstrated that constructing the exhaust hoods with large aspect ratio and contain volume could improve the capture rates. The second case addresses the detailed characteristics of dust generated from bulk materials transport. The results indicated that the dust emission rate could be reduced by decreasing the drop height and the percentage of 0-10 mu m in the materials in the transitive regime while by decreasing the percentage of 0-10 mu m in the materials in the dispersive regime. The third case addresses the movement and control of water droplets from an opening tank. It showed that the droplet diameter was distributed nonuniformly without push-pull ventilation; with push-pull ventilation, the control effect increased with decreasing initial diameter. The last case focuses on a ventilation system adapted to local climates. It illustrates that there is an optimal underground tunnel length. In summary, these conclusions offer valuable knowledge to develop high-efficiency ventilation systems with improved indoor air quality and low energy consumption for industrial buildings. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.