Design and Experimental Evaluation of a Flooded-Bed Dust Scrubber Integrated into a Longwall Shearer

Details

• Personal Author:
  Arya S ; Colinet, Jay F. ; Novak T ; Rider, James P. ; Sottile, Joseph ; Wedding C
• Description:
  Continuous mining machines operating in U.S. underground coal mines have, for decades, utilized flooded-bed dust scrubbers for capturing and removing respirable dust generated at the production face. However, the application of dust scrubbers to longwall mining systems has not yet been successful. Considering that nearly 60% of U.S. underground coal production is from longwall mines, the successful application of dust scrubbers to longwall mining systems could have a significant impact on miner health. A full-scale mock-up of a longwall shearer was constructed and equipped with a flooded-bed dust scrubber designed to capture dust produced by the headgate cutting drum. The mockup was installed at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Longwall Dust Gallery and a series of 40 experiments was conducted to evaluate the scrubber's performance. Results show that the scrubber achieved a 56% reduction of respirable dust in the return airway and a 74% reduction of respirable dust in the walkway area near the shearer. Although these tests were conducted under a controlled environment, the results suggest that a similar scrubber design could be very effective at achieving a significant reduction in respirable dust in longwall mining systems. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Coal Coal Mining Dust Mining Occupational Health Safety
• Keywords:
  Author Keywords: Dust Control Coal Mining Continuous Mining Dust Control Dusts Dust Scrubber Flooded-bed Scrubber Longwall Mining Longwall Shearer Mining Equipment Scrubbers Underground Mines Underground Mining

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• Series:
  Mining Publications
• ISSN:
  0032-5910
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Kentucky ; OSHA Region 3 ; OSHA Region 4 ; Pennsylvania
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  PMRD - Pittsburgh Mining Research Division
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  487-496
• Volume:
  339
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20052757
• Citation:
  Powder Technol 2018 Nov; 339:487-496
• Contact Point Address:
  Joseph Sottile, Department of Mining Engineering, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40506, USA
• Email:
  joseph.sottile@uky.edu
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2019
• NORA Priority Area:
  Mining
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Source Full Name:
  Powder Technology
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:732f9c13831ff1595f0175e81d267c788ff92a69895021adf98cf554221296ec802d83ba46301c226aa6d969c930963d2013341bcdb1934cf946144b53ac4587
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/227714/cdc_227714_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 2.17 MB ]