Characteristics of Dust in Coal Mines in Central North China and Its Research Significance

Abstract

The identification of the dust characteristics in coal mine working faces is essential for preventing coal dust explosion and occupational diseases. In this paper, dust samples from the coal mines in southern Shanxi province and Henan province, central North China, were selected as the research objects. The results show that the dust contains primarily organic matter, as well as considerable amounts of minerals. The chemical composition of dust at the working faces is the most complex. According to the proportion of PM10, the dust composition can be divided into three types: symmetrical, fine-dominated, and coarse-dominated. The wettability of dust increases with the increase of the oxygen–carbon ratio on its surface, increase of ash content, decrease of fixed carbon content, and decrease of particle size. In addition, the great variety of harmful elements in dust, some with a high content, can harm the human body. An explosion index is proposed to evaluate the likeliness tendency of coal dust explosion based on several key affecting factors. The surfactant (0.05% AN solution) adopted in this paper can significantly increase the wettability of coal dust and inhibit the generation of dust greatly, showing good ability in preventing coal dust explosion and occupational diseases.

The effects of coal dust exposure on DNA damage and repair of human bronchial epithelial cells

“…Although the sample of CD obtained by grinding coal was from a specific region, it represents the essential composition of CD. The essential composition of CD samples from different geographic sites is coal particles containing the main elements C, H, N, S, O, and the most abundant inorganic constituents SiO 2 and Al 2 O 3 (Su et al, 2020; Song et al, 2022), which is consistent with our results (Figure 1(b); Table 1). Besides, the CD particles of less than 2 μm (Figure 1(a)) can almost all deposit in the tracheobronchial and alveolar areas, and then produce lung toxicity resulting in difficulty of exhalation.…”

“…Respirable coal dust (CD) includes airborne coal particles in underground mines that can be inhaled by miners and deposited in the distal airways and gas-exchange region of the lung (National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, 2018). The composition of CD varies with the type of coal and the amount of additional compounds present, including the carbon-containing substances of the coal itself, minerals (e.g., clays, sulfide ores, phosphates, and quartz), metals, and organic compounds (Su et al, 2020). Epidemiological studies have shown that CD exposure, seriously threatening human health, could result in coal workers’ pneumoconiosis, silicosis, and even malignant tumors (Blackley et al, 2018; Doney et al, 2020; Li et al, 2021).…”

Experimental Study on the Wettability of Coal with Different Metamorphism Treated by Surfactants for Coal Dust Control

“… 35 , 48 Some scholars reported that hydroxyl, quartz, moisture, and ash in coal are hydrophilic factors, while aliphatic chain, aromatic hydrocarbon, volatile, and fixed carbon are hydrophobic factors. 34 , 36 , 49 In this study, the main factors influencing coal wettability were calculated based on the grey relational analysis model. The content of moisture, ash, volatile, fixed carbon, functional groups, and the contact angle was input into MATLAB and the influence degree of these factors on coal wettability was obtained.…”

Perfluoroalkyl acids in dust on residential indoor/outdoor window glass in Chinese cities: occurrence, composition, and toddler exposure

“…Xinzhou is a city of Shanxi Province, which is famous for its coal industry. Air pollutions have been investigated in this province, and the dust was harmful with high heavy metal contents (Han et al, 2020, Su et al, 2020, Zhang et al, 2020b. PFAA concentration was not reported before.…”