The Application of the Foam Technology to the Dust Control for Reducing the Dust Injury of Coal Mines

Mine dust is one of the main disasters that threatens the safety of coal mine production, deteriorates the underground working environment and induces various occupational diseases. Based on the harm of mine dust identified and the current domestic and foreign dust-proof technology, the technical research of the foam dust reduction is reviewed; the advantages and disadvantages of foam dust reduction are also discussed. According to the experimental exploration and the study of foam flow characteristics, the process of foam device and foam nozzle separation was adopted, and some site tests were conducted in fully mechanized mining and excavation working faces in Zhangcun, Shanjiaoshu and Jinjia coal mines. The foam technology led to a 59.5% dust removal efficiency in Zhangcun coal mine, which is much higher than the dust removal efficiency of the water spray dust reduction. The efficiency of total mine dust in Shanjiaoshu coal mine reached as high as 72%, and the efficiency of respirable mine dust reached 67%. Compared with the circumstance with no dust-control measure, the average density of the total mine dust in Jinjia coal mine decreased by 22.75~32.95% using foam technology. The results show that the use of the foam to inhibit the transformation of mine dust from the source of dust production to the floating state and the efficiency of dust control is greatly improved. This method can effectively reduce the mine dust density in underground mining and excavation working faces, clean the working environments, and guarantee the health of miners. The research results are of great significance for improving the production conditions of mining and excavating face and building green mines and standardized mines. Moreover, foam technology for dust control has been widely used in coal mines.