Field comparison of a roof bolter dry dust collection system with an original designed wet collection system for dust co
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Field comparison of a roof bolter dry dust collection system with an original designed wet collection system for dust control W. R. Reed 1
&
M. Shahan 1 & G. Ross 2 & D. Blackwell 3 & S. Peters 3
Received: 20 March 2020 / Accepted: 17 August 2020 # This is a U.S. government work and its text is not subject to copyright protection in the United States; however, its text may be subject to foreign copyright protection 2020
Abstract Dust collectors for roof bolting machines generally use a dry box to collect the roof bolting material. Recently, an underground mining operation converted a dry box dust collector to a wet box dust collector with a unique exception from MSHA for testing purposes. Water is routed to the roof bolter from the main water line of the continuous miner. The wet box utilizes a water spray to wet the incoming material. Testing was conducted comparing the two different collector types. Respirable dust concentrations surrounding the roof bolter with the different collection boxes were similar. The main difference in respirable dust concentrations occurred when cleaning the dust boxes. The average respirable dust concentration during cleaning of the wet box was 0.475 mg/ m3, and during the cleaning of the dry box, the average respirable dust concentration was 1.188 mg/m3, a 60% reduction in respirable dust concentration. The quartz content of the roof material was high, ranging from 28.9 to 52.7% during this study. The results from this study indicate that using the wet box as a collector reduced exposure to respirable dust up to 60% when cleaning the collector boxes. Keywords Respirable dust . Dust collector . Roof bolter . Coal
1 Introduction The roof bolter operator is an occupation that can be frequently exposed to respirable quartz dust [1]. Exposures to high concentrations of respirable quartz dust can result in the development of silicosis, an occupational respiratory disease. Two types of silicosis are acute silicosis or chronic silicosis. Acute silicosis can develop after severe short-term exposure to respirable quartz dust and can occur within several months or years. Chronic silicosis can develop after long-term exposures to respirable quartz dust over many years, usually decades. Both acute and chronic silicosis have no cure and may ultimately be fatal. The only method to prevent the incidence of silicosis is through the prevention of exposure to respirable quartz dust [2]. Additionally, exposure to respirable coal mine dust can lead to coal workers’ pneumoconiosis or black lung.
* W. R. Reed [email protected] 1
CDC-NIOSH, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
2
J.H. Fletcher & Co., Inc., Huntington, WV, USA
3
Blue Mountain Energy, Deserado Mine, Rangely, CO, USA
Black lung is also an occupational respiratory disease that has no cure and can ultimately be fatal. In an effort to eliminate the incidence of CWP and silicosis, MSHA sets a maximum allowable respirable coal mine dust standard of 1.5 mg/m3 for a full working shift in the active workings [3]. If silica is present, the applicable respirable
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