Comparison of Chemical Suppressants under Different Atmosphere Temperatures for the Control of Fugitive Dust Emission on Mine Haul Roads

• Author / Creator

  Omane,David

• Dust generated from mine haul roads poses a severe health and safety threat to workers and the environment. Traditionally, to control the dust, water has been applied on mine haul roads. Although environmentally friendly, water lasts for a limited duration due to evaporation. As a result, water has less longevity and requires consistent re-application, leading to an enormous waste of valuable water resources, especially in remote areas where most mine sites are located. Currently, chemical suppressant has been proven by most researchers as a better palliation agent in controlling dust, which is now adopted by many mining industries as a control measure. Among various environmental factors, the temperature of the atmosphere plays an important role in how effective a chemical suppressant is at dust retention on mine haul roads because temperature directly affects water evaporation. However, the past and current research focus only on the influence of hot temperatures on the performance of chemical suppressants without considering other temperatures (i.e., cold and normal room temperatures). Hence, the objective of this study is to investigate the role of different atmosphere temperatures on the effectiveness of chemical suppressants. In this study, water and selected chemical surfactants—salt, chloride free agents, polymers, and molasses—were tested experimentally for their dust retention efficiency under atmosphere temperatures of 35 oC (hot), 15 oC (normal), and -19 oC (cold), respectively, within a time frame of 72 hours. This study found that water has the retention efficiency of 48.47%, 54.67%, and 99.92% at hot, normal, and cold temperatures, respectively, after 72 hours. Compared with water, a salt solution, chloride free solution, polymer solution, and molasses solution achieved higher efficiencies of 85.85%, 90.15%, 99.78% and 99.98%, respectively, than those of water. This demonstrates that different atmosphere temperatures have an impact on how effective each of the selected chemical suppressants is on fugitive dust. The impact of this research can assist mining companies around the globe in decision-making analysis on different chemical dust suppressants regardless of the atmospheric temperatures present at an area of location of a mine.

• Subjects / Keywords

  • Haul road
  • Temperature
  • Chemical surfactant
  • Fugitive dust
  • Chemical suppressant

• Graduation date

  Fall 2017

• Type of Item

  Thesis

• Degree

  Master of Science

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/R3H708D8G

• License

  This thesis is made available by the University of Alberta Libraries with permission of the copyright owner solely for non-commercial purposes. This thesis, or any portion thereof, may not otherwise be copied or reproduced without the written consent of the copyright owner, except to the extent permitted by Canadian copyright law.