Coal conveying and transfer can release significant amounts of dust into the mining environment, causing a health and safety risk to mine workers. Efforts to control emissions during coal transport could reduce exposures to both airborne respirable dust and accumulations of combustible float dust. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) evaluated the ability of a water spray system at an underground belt-to-belt transfer point to reduce concentrations of airborne coal mine dust. Experiments conducted by NIOSH researchers compared the base condition of no water application to treatments with plain water and a plain water solution with a 0.2% wetting agent concentration. Airborne measurements showed that applying plain water reduced float dust levels by 32%. Plain water reduced the observed respirable dust concentrations by 28%. The addition of an anionic wetting agent reduced float dust levels around the transfer point by 49% and respirable dust by 46%. These results suggest that while plain water applications may alleviate some float dust liberation, the use of wetting agents can provide much more effective dust control during material transfer.
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