Control of dust in underground coal mines is critical for mitigating both explosibility and respiratory hazards. For decades, the National Institute of Occupational Health and Safety (NIOSH) has led research to evaluate the effectiveness of various dust control technologies in coal mines. In recent years, NIOSH has conducted several studies related to auxiliary scrubbers. While results have demonstrated the ability to reduce respirable coal mine dust (RCMD) mass concentrations underground, detailed dust characterization was not part of the study design. The dust characteristics such as the mineralogic constituents and particle size might also be important for understanding the impact of RCMD exposure and to protect miner health. The current study aims to expand on NIOSH's prior work by evaluating the effect of two auxiliary scrubber types (one wet and one dry) on RCMD constituents and particle size distributions. For this, filter samples from two prior NIOSH studies were obtained and analyzed by Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA), Scanning Electron Microscopy with Energy Dispersive X-Ray (SEM-EDX), and Fourier-Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR).
