Preparation and performance analysis of a coking coal dust suppressant spray

Coking coal dust is extremely hydrophobic; therefore, combination with droplets in the air is difficult and dust suppression is challenging. Here, a dust suppressant spray for coking coal dust was studied in order to improve of the combination of droplets and coking coal dust. Based on monomer optimization and compounding analysis, two surfactant monomers, fatty alcohol ether sodium sulfate (AES) and sodium dodecyl benzene sulfonate (SDBS) were selected as the surfactant components of the dust suppressant. The surfactant monomers were combined with four inorganic salts and the reverse osmosis moisture absorption of each solution was determined. By combining the reverse osmosis moisture absorption values with the water retention experimental results, CaCl2 was identified as the optimal inorganic salt additive for the dust suppressant. Finally, the optimal concentration of each component was obtained using orthogonal experimental design i.e., AES (0.03%), SDBS (0.05%), and CaCl2 (0.4%). The dust suppressant solution formulated using this method had a high moisture absorption capacity and excellent performance. Graphic Abstract

Automated summary

In this study, a dust suppressant spray for coking coal dust was developed by selecting appropriate surfactant monomers and inorganic salts to improve the combination with droplets. The optimized dust suppressant solution showed high moisture absorption capacity and excellent performance.