Study on dust reduction characteristics and mechanism of softened mine water

ABSTRACT

At present, the intensity of coal mining is increasing gradually, and the concentration of coal dust in roadways under integrated mining is high, making it difficult to control. As a result, the mechanism and technology of dust reduction remain one of the key points of efficient mining research. To study the influence of physical and chemical properties of mine water on dust reduction efficiency, this work used spray dust reduction experiment system to assess dust reduction efficacy of several solutions at 3～6MPa, and the differences in the dedusting characteristics and atomization characteristics of each group of each solution were analyzed. The result demonstrates that softened mine water’s surface tension and contact angle fall significantly, spray droplet size lowers, and fog dispersion becomes more symmetrical. When compared to before softening, the dust reduction efficiency of softened water (SW) is 72.52% for total dust and 69.74% for respiratory dust, considerably improving the working environment of underground coal miners and optimizing mining efficiency.

KEYWORDS:

• Spray dust reduction
• surface tension
• contact angle
• softened mine water
• atomized particle size

Acknowledgements

This work is gratefully supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51804212); Scientific and Technological Innovation Programs of Higher education Institution in Shanxi (2020L0129); Cultivation Plan for Youth Researchers of Higher Education Institutions in Shanxi (jyt20190003).

Disclosure statement

We confirm that this manuscript is original and has not been submitted for publication elsewhere, and it is not under consideration for publication elsewhere. We hope that this research paper can be accepted in Energy Sources Part A: Recovery, Utilization and Environmental Effects.

CRediT authorship contribution statement

Yabin Gao: Conceptualization, Methodology, Resources, Data curation, Formal analysis, Writing-review & editing, Project administration, Funding acquisition, Supervision. Hao Zheng: Conceptualization, Validation, Writing-original draft, Methodology, Data curation, Formal analysis, Visualization, Investigation. Shaoqi Zhang: Validation, Formal Analysis, Writing – review & editing. Jing Cao: Validation, Formal Analysis, Writing – review & editing, Supervision. Ziwen Li: Writing -review & editing. Fei Wang: Data curation, Writing – review & editing, Supervision.

Additional information

Funding

The work was supported by Fundamental Research Program of Shanxi Province [202203021211160]; Postgraduate Teaching Reform Project of Shanxi Province [2022YJJG039]; National Natural Science Foundation of China [52004176].

Notes on contributors

Yabin Gao

Yabin Gao is a associate professor of the Taiyuan University of Technology in China. He obtained his D.Es. from China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou. His research interests are centered on the areas of safety science and engineering, mine gas, fire prevention theory and technology.

Hao Zheng

Hao Zheng is currently pursuing a master’s degree in Safety Science and Engineering from Taiyuan University of Technology in China. His research interests include coal dust control in underground mines and occupational health and safety.

Shaoqi Zhang

Shaoqi Zhangis currently pursuing a master’s degree in Safety Engineering from Taiyuan University of Technology in China. His research interests include water jet antireflection and the gas extraction.