Influence of Coal Type on Water Spray Suppression of Airborne Respirable Dust

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Abstract
A laboratory study was conducted to investigate the water spray capture efficiency of airborne respirable dust generated from nine different bituminous coal seams. Experiments involved grinding a uniform coal sample mass, injecting the dust into a closed steady-state chamber, and measuring the aerosol's decay response when exposed to a hollow cone water spray. The amount of airborne dust generated from these differential coal types varied, but had similar particle size distributions. The spray knockdown efficiency was comparable among coal types, and the size distribution of the dust was uniformly reduced by the water spray. Since water spray capture efficiency remained essentially uniform, the dust concentration at the end of the spray period was a function of the amount of dust generated. Therefore, a particular water spray system used in different coal seams under identical operating conditions (seam height, airflow, water pressure and flow, mining practices, etc.) can be expected to remove airborne dust in a uniform manner. However, dust concentrations will likely vary around identical water spray control systems used in different underground mines because of the diversity in operating conditions and the amount of dust generated from different coal seams.

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