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U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Dust suppression with water sprays during continuous coal mining operations

Technical Report ·
OSTI ID:7177870
The Federal Bureau of Mines investigated dust suppression obtained with three different water-spray nozzle systems during underground continuous coal mining at the face. The nozzles were the ''regular'' nozzles normally used by the mine, and high-efficiency and low-efficiency nozzles selected on the basis of an airborne capture theory of respirable dust by spray drops. The high-efficiency nozzle used one-third less water than the others throughout the testing. Results depended on the type of cutting operation at the face. The sump-downshear operation appeared to involve a significant amount of capture of airborne respirable dust. The same amount of dust was measured when using the high-efficiency and regular nozzles. The dust levels when using the high-efficiency nozzle were about 20 percent less than those measured when using the low-efficiency nozzle. The sump-upshear operation seemed to involve a predominance of other aspects of dust suppression, such as impaction of spray drops onto the face. Compared with the downshear operation, there was a significant reduction in dust levels for a total face operation when using the regular nozzle were about 15 percent lower than those measured when using the high-efficiency nozzle.
Research Organization:
Bureau of Mines, Washington, D.C. (USA)
OSTI ID:
7177870
Report Number(s):
BM-RI-8064
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English