Control of airborne respirable dust in the face area with water sprays using a full-scale laboratory model. Report of Investigations/1988

Technical Report · Fri Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1988

OSTI ID:6500041

Cheng, L; Courtney, W G

The report presents the results of a Bureau of Mines laboratory investigation of the effect of water sprays in reducing respirable dust that escaped the face area of a full-scale wooden model of a mine entry containing a wooden model of a ripper-type continuous mining machine and exhaust brattice. Areas examined were (1) the general effectiveness of a low-pressure water spray system mounted on top of the mining machine boom, a high-pressure spray system mounted under the boom, and the combined top- and bottom-spray systems, and (2) the effect of these three spray systems on the capture of coal dust particles of different sizes. Dust was injected into a sump cavity at the face. Airborne respirable dust concentration was measured behind the brattice with a personal sampler and cyclone, and particle size distribution was measured with a cascade impactor. When used alone, the top-spray system captured about 55% of the respirable dust in the face area and the bottom-spray system captured 60%; the capture efficiency of each system is decreased when they are used simultaneously. From a mass-concentration viewpoint, each spray system preferentially captures larger dust particles.

• Research Organization: Bureau of Mines, Pittsburgh, PA (USA). Pittsburgh Research Center
• OSTI ID: 6500041
• Report Number(s): PB-90-268806/XAB; BUMINES-RI--9202
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT
012033* -- Coal
Lignite
& Peat-- Underground Mining-- Mine Environment-- (1987-)
AIR POLLUTION
AIR POLLUTION CONTROL
BENCH-SCALE EXPERIMENTS
COAL FINES
CONTINUOUS MINERS
CONTROL
CUTTER LOADERS
CUTTING MACHINES
DISTRIBUTION
DUSTS
EQUIPMENT
HAULAGE EQUIPMENT
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
INDOOR AIR POLLUTION
LOADERS
MATERIALS HANDLING EQUIPMENT
MINING
MINING EQUIPMENT
NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PARTICLE SIZE
PARTICLE SIZE CLASSIFIERS
PERFORMANCE TESTING
POLLUTION
POLLUTION CONTROL
PRESSURE DEPENDENCE
SCALE MODELS
SIZE
SPRAYS
STRUCTURAL MODELS
TESTING
UNDERGROUND MINING
US BUREAU OF MINES
US DOI
US ORGANIZATIONS
VENTILATION SYSTEMS
WATER
WORKING FACES