Preparation and characterization of a novel environmentally friendly coal dust suppressant

To mitigate the dust dispersion pollution in the open‐pit coal mines, this study experimentally develops a novel environmentally friendly coal dust suppressant. The experiment uses naturally biodegradable soybean protein isolate (SPI) as the main material and utilizes anion surfactant sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) to modify SPI. In the carboxymethylcellulose sodium and sodium silicate and other auxiliary agents, this process produces gives rise to the SDS‐SPI coal dust suppressant. Experimental characterization of the developed dust suppressant reveals that the viscosity of the 5% dust suppressant solution can reach 24.6 mPa s. Correspondingly, the compressive strength reaches 0.48 MPa, and the dust suppression efficiency can reach 93.47% with the presence of force 9 wind. Furthermore, this study uses Fourier‐transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and scanning electron microscope (SEM) to analyze the dust suppression mechanism of the developed dust suppressant. It is observed that a layer of compact hardened shell is formed at the surface of the coal powder treated with the newly developed dust suppressant. Also, there exists a strong cementing effect among dust particles, yielding a decent cementing performance. Therefore, the present dust suppressant can effectively suppress dust dispersion in the open‐pit coal mines, allowing a mitigation of the environmental pollution.