Rotary Rail Car Dumper Coal Dust Suppressant Experiment

摘要

A rotary rail car dumper dust suppressant experiment was performed at the PEPCO Morgantown Power Plant coal handling facility, Newburg, Maryland during the late summer and early fall of 1983. From previous observations of rotary coal car dumping, it was observed that large amounts of dust, especially for washed coal, were generated from the exposed top layer of coal in the open rail car. An overhead spray system using water and surfactant was used to examine the effectiveness of surface wetting just before dumping. High volume sampling at both the entrance and exit doorways of the dumper shed was used to determine the coal dust reduction. A total of 23 tests was performed, of which 16 tests were considered valid. All data were normalized for background, number of tons dumped and sampling time. The use of an overhead spray system can substantially suppress fugitive coal dust generated by rotary rail car dumping of coal. A water and surfactant mixture provided coal dust suppressant efficiencies ranging from 47% to 79% with an average of 61% for a combination of washed, mixed and unwashed coal.