A new design of foam spray nozzle used for precise dust control in underground coal mines

In order to improve the utilization rate of foam,an arc jet nozzle was designed for precise dust control.Through theoretical analysis,the different demands of foam were compared amongst arc jets,flat jets and full cone jets when the dust source was covered identically by foam.It is proved that foam consumption was least when an arc jet was used.Foam production capability of an arc jet nozzle under different conditions was investigated through experiments.The results show that with the gas liquid ratio(GLR)increasing,the spray state of an arc jet nozzle presents successively water jet,foam jet and mist.Under a reasonable working condition range of foam production and a fixed GLR,foam production quantity increases at first,and then decreases with the increase of liquid supply quantity.When the inner diameter of the nozzle is 14 mm,the best GLR is 30 and the optimum liquid supply quantity is0.375 m^3/h.The results of field experiments show that the total dust and respirable dust suppression efficiency of arc jet nozzles is 85.8%and 82.6%respectively,which are 1.39 and 1.37 times higher than the full cone nozzles and 1.20 and 1.19 times higher than the fiat nozzles.

A comparative study of dust control practices in Chinese and Australian longwall coal mines

Mine dust is one of the main hazards in underground longwall mines worldwide.In order to solve the mine dust problem,a significant number of studies have been carried out regarding longwall mine dust control,both in China and Australia.This paper presents a comparative study of dust control practices in Chinese and Australian longwall mines,with particular references to statutory limits,dust monitoring methods and dust management practices,followed by a brief discussion on the research status of longwall mine dust control in both countries.The study shows that water infusion,face ventilation controls,water sprays,and deep and wet cutting in longwall shearer operations are commonly practiced in almost all underground longwall mines and that both Chinese and Australian longwall mine dust control practices have their own advantages and disadvantages.It is concluded that there is a need for further development and innovative design of more effective dust mitigation products or systems despite the development of various dust control technologies.Based on the examinations and discussions,the authors have made some recommendations for further research and development in dust control in longwall mines.It is hoped that this comparative study will provide beneficial guidance for scholars and engineers who are engaging in longwall mine dust control research and practice.

Experimental modeling of polymer latex spray coating for producing controlled-release urea

Spray coating of polymer latex onto fertilizer particles in a fiuidized bed for producing controlled-release urea is an environment friendly technology as it does not need any toxic organic solvent. Since the spray coating process in a fluidized bed occurs in the presence of particle collisions, the coating of the particles is random, intermittent and multiple, thus making it difficult to investigate the film formation process. In this paper, an experimental model apparatus was designed and used to investigate the effects of the key factors in the spray coating process. This apparatus reasonably simplified the complex process to avoid particle collisions and randomness in the coating. The intermittent coating in the fluidized bed was modeled by periodic coating and dewatering in the experimental apparatus. A large area film was obtained, and the film permeability was measured. The effects of atomizing gas flow rate, spray rate of latex, solid content of latex and gas temperature on film structure and film permeability were investigated. It was found that water transfer played a dominant role in the spray coating process.

Removing ammonia from air with a constant pH, slightly acidic water spray wet scrubber using recycled scrubbing solution

Previous research on wet scrubbers has only studied highly acidic scrubbing solutions because of their high ammonia capture efficiencies; however, the high acidity created practical problems. Lower acidity solutions would reduce corrosion, maintenance, and cost; however, designers may need to use strategies for increasing scrubber effectiveness, such as using lower air velocities. The objective of this studywas to determine if a spray scrubber with slightly acidic and higher p H scrubbing solution （pH from 2 to 8） could effectively remove NH3 from NH3 laden air （such as animal building exhaust air）, and also collect this valuable resource for rater use as a fertilizer. A bench-scale spray wet scrubber treated 20 ppmv NH3/air mixture in a countercurrent contact chamber. First, the solution pH was varied from 2 to 8while maintaining constant air velocity at 1.3 m. s-1. Next, air velocity was increased （2and 3 m.s-1） while solution pH remained constant at pH6. At 1.3 m.s -1, NH3 removal efficiencies ranged between 49.0% （pH8） and 84.3% （pH2）. This study has shown that slightly acidic scrubbing solutions are a practical means of removing ammonia from air especially if the scrubber is designed to increase collisions between solution droplets and NH3 molecules. The NH3 removed from the air was held in solution as NH4＋ and accumulates over time so the solution should be an excellent fertilizer.

Large matrix polymer solar cells fabricated by low cost air-brush spray deposition

In this paper,a 64 mm×64 mm matrix polymer solar cell(PSC) was fabricated by air-brush spray deposition.Although the open-circuit voltage(Voc) and the fill factor(FF) both need to be improved,the efficiency of matrix PSCs still reaches about 1.82%,and especially the current density achieves nearly 20 m A/cm2.The results verify that air-brush spray deposition is a suitable method to prepare large area PSC devices,and the process we use in this paper can be easily transplanted to roll-to-roll production.