Mining Publication: Continuous Miner Spray Considerations for Optimizing Scrubber Performance in Exhaust Ventilation Systems
Original creation date: February 2010
A majority of continuous mining machines employ a water spray system and a machine mounted flooded-bed scrubber to suppress and capture dust during coal mining. These machine mounted dust control systems must be designed to function within the localized face ventilation system at the mining section to control both dust and methane. Spray systems can impede or improve the scrubber effectiveness in controlling dust or methane at the mining face. Laboratory experiments were conducted to examine the effect of spray type, spray pressure, machine body blocking sprays, and scrubber airflow on dust and gas levels while using a 12.2 m (40 ft) exhaust ventilation curtain setback from the face. These experiments were conducted with the mining machine positioned at the end of a simulated 6.1 m (20 ft) sump and slab cut. Results indicate that the hollow cone nozzles with blocking sprays best complemented the flooded-bed scrubber performance in an exhaust ventilation system. This external spray system notably reduced dust and gas levels on the off-curtain side of the mining machine for both the sump and slab cut as compared to the flat spray nozzles. Higher scrubber airflows reduced dust and gas levels on the curtain side and in the return of the continuous mining machine. The remote operator position, located on the off curtain side and parallel to the inlet end of the exhaust curtain, sustained the most stable and lowest dust levels around the mining machine.
Authors: JA Organiscak, TW Beck
Conference Paper - February 2010
NIOSHTIC2 Number: 20036462
2010 SME Annual Meeting and Exhibit, February 28 - March 3, Phoenix, Arizona, preprint 10-204. Littleton, CO: Society for Mining, Metallurgy, and Exploration, Inc., 2010; :1-7
See Also
- Coal Dust and Methane
- Coal Mine Explosion Prevention
- Evaluation of the Wet Head Continuous Miner to Reduce Respirable Dust
- Examination of a Newly Developed Mobile Dry Scrubber (DS) for Coal Mine Dust Control Applications
- Guidelines for the Control and Monitoring of Methane Gas on Continuous Mining Operations
- NIOSH Research for Controlling Respirable Dust and Methane Gas on Continuous Miner Faces
- Reducing Float Coal Dust: Field Evaluation of an Inline Auxiliary Fan Scrubber
- Remote Methane Sensors
- Respirable Dust
- Use of a Directional Spray System Design to Control Respirable Dust and Face Gas Concentrations Around a Continuous Mining Machine
- Using Water Sprays to Improve Performance of a Flooded-Bed Dust Scrubber
- Page last reviewed: 9/21/2012
- Page last updated: 9/21/2012
- Content source: National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Mining Program