Development of an Effective Method for Preventing Dust Pollution in Stone Quarries Using Petroleum Refinery Wastes

摘要

The paper presents a new method for preventing dust pollution in stone quarries using naphthenic wastes of petroleum refineries. The method is based on the use of naphthenate solutions of metals as wetting agents to minimize dust release during stone-cutting process. The studies were carried out in one of the stone quarries of the Absheron peninsula. Initial experiments were conducted by using sodium-naphthenate (RCOONa) solution from alkali wastes of refineries. The results have shown that the use of RCOONa as wetting agent considerably reduces both dust pollution and energy consumption of the used equipment, while increasing the service life of stone-cutting saw. A series of researches were carried out with cupric naphthenate (RCOOCu) to further use the obtained dust-naphthenate mixture in agriculture. The effect of various parameters on the quality of the obtained product was investigated. The investigations have revealed that maximal dust reduction and the good quality of dust-naphthenate mixture were observed with 0.13% solution of RCOOCu at 11° - 13° angle of slope and 100 - 180 rotation∕min. intensity of conveyer.