Mitigating Coal Dust Explosions in Modern Underground Coal Mines

Harris, Marcia L.; Cashdollar, Kenneth L.; Man, Chi Keung; Thimons, Ed

doi:10.2139/ssrn.3035297

Cited by 13 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 3 publications

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“…Coal dust generated by mining equipment became a source of fuel for the explosion after being deposited and accumulating on underground mine surfaces. To prevent such an explosion, coal dust on mine surfaces should be adequately treated with incombustible dust [2]. In addition, coal dust can be removed from mine air before it deposits and accumulates on mine surfaces [3][4].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Calibration of the cloud and aerosol spectrometer for coal dust composition and morphology

Barone

Hesse

Seaman

et al. 2019

Advanced Powder Technology

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Calibration of the cloud and aerosol spectrometer for coal dust composition and morphology

Barone

Hesse

Seaman

et al. 2019

Advanced Powder Technology

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“…Respirable dust, with particle diameter ≤ 10 µm, has the capability to penetrate beyond the terminal bronchioles and become deeply embedded in human lungs, leading to respiratory disease complications (Potts, McCawley and Jankowski, 1990). Float coal dust is defined as coal dust with particle diameter ≤ 74 µm (Harris et al, 2009). During the mining process, float coal dust can be deposited on the floor, roof and ribs of mine airways.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Characterization of airborne float coal dust emitted during continuous mining, longwall mining and belt transport

et al. 2017

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Float coal dust is produced by various mining methods, carried by ventilating air and deposited on the floor, roof and ribs of mine airways. If deposited, float dust is re-entrained during a methane explosion. Without sufficient inert rock dust quantities, this float coal dust can propagate an explosion throughout mining entries. Consequently, controlling float coal dust is of critical interest to mining operations. Rock dusting, which is the adding of inert material to airway surfaces, is the main control technique currently used by the coal mining industry to reduce the float coal dust explosion hazard. To assist the industry in reducing this hazard, the Pittsburgh Mining Research Division of the U.S. National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health initiated a project to investigate methods and technologies to reduce float coal dust in underground coal mines through prevention, capture and suppression prior to deposition. Field characterization studies were performed to determine quantitatively the sources, types and amounts of dust produced during various coal mining processes. The operations chosen for study were a continuous miner section, a longwall section and a coal-handling facility. For each of these operations, the primary dust sources were confirmed to be the continuous mining machine, longwall shearer and conveyor belt transfer points, respectively. Respirable and total airborne float dust samples were collected and analyzed for each operation, and the ratio of total airborne float coal dust to respirable dust was calculated. During the continuous mining process, the ratio of total airborne float coal dust to respirable dust ranged from 10.3 to 13.8. The ratios measured on the longwall face were between 18.5 and 21.5. The total airborne float coal dust to respirable dust ratio observed during belt transport ranged between 7.5 and 21.8.

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“…A report by the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) states that, since 1968, black lung has caused or contributed to the deaths of 76,000 coal miners [21]. Additionally, a coal dust explosion triggered by a methane explosion as a result of high dust concentration in the mine entries poses a serious safety concern [22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29]. The Jim Walter No.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Experimental and Numerical Investigation of the Effect of Integration of a Flooded-Bed Scrubber into a Longwall Shearer on Airflow along a Coal Mine Longwall Face

2021

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Dust control is one of the most difficult challenges for underground coal mine operators, especially longwall mine operators. The most widely used dust control technologies at a longwall section are ventilation air and water sprays, whereas a continuous miner section has the added advantage of having a dust scrubber built into the continuous miner. To test the potential benefits of integrating a flooded-bed scrubber into a longwall shearer, the authors designed and built a dust scrubber system for a full-scale mock-up of a longwall shearer. The mock-up was installed in the longwall test gallery at the Pittsburgh Research Laboratory (PRL) for testing. Air quantity surveys were performed at different cross-sections of the test gallery at a fixed face-air quantity, but at different scrubber airflow rates to quantify the distribution of air in the test gallery. Subsequently, a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model of the PRL test gallery was developed and validated. In this study, the effect of the flooded-bed scrubber on airflow pattern in the test gallery is investigated using the validated CFD model. This model can be used further to predict the dust capture efficiency of the scrubber and to develop new techniques to reduce dust concentration in longwall sections.

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Mitigating Coal Dust Explosions in Modern Underground Coal Mines

Cited by 13 publications

References 3 publications

Calibration of the cloud and aerosol spectrometer for coal dust composition and morphology

Calibration of the cloud and aerosol spectrometer for coal dust composition and morphology

Characterization of airborne float coal dust emitted during continuous mining, longwall mining and belt transport

Experimental and Numerical Investigation of the Effect of Integration of a Flooded-Bed Scrubber into a Longwall Shearer on Airflow along a Coal Mine Longwall Face

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