Abstracts Archive

Mirza Muhammad Zaid, Nana Kobina Amoako Amoah, Guang Xu* Increased exposure of the respirable coal dust leads to irreversible lung diseases in mine workers. MSHA mandates a maximum dust concentration of 1.5 mg/m3 in underground coal operations. Current ways of monitoring concentrations using filter...

This paper details the development of an immersive simulation tool that can be used to provide enhanced 3D visualization of monitoring and computational modeling datasets of dust and ventilation flow in an interactive, virtual environment, and clearly demonstrate the exposure impact of certain worki...

Coal dust causes a range of diseases and health problems worldwide, such as Coal Workers' Pneumoconiosis. Numbers of static studies showed that surfactants could increase the coal dust wettability effectively in water spraying. However, coal dust does not remain in a static state in underground mine...

Process ventilation involves using airflow to control dust generated in process operations. Understanding of process ventilation design practice is important for mining engineers and operations personnel responsible for mitigating the risk of handling combustible dust and non-combustible dust hazard...

This study investigates the RCMD characteristics and toxicity based on the geographic locations. Dissolution experiments in simulated lung fluids (SLFs) and in-vitro response were conducted to determine the toxicity level of samples collected from 5 mines in the Rocky Mountains and Appalachian regio...

In environments where excavation is used to break rock, airborne rock dusts pose respiratory health threats to workers. This includes mining with mechanical excavators which are common in industrial minerals as well as some tunneling operations. The purpose of this study is to compare characteristic...

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 ...

Dust control challenges exist in numerous mining applications and is especially prevalent in confined production spaces like mining faces. Water sprays are the most economical and technically feasible means of reducing dust concentrations in a wide range of applications. This study investigated the ...

Real-time measurements of coal mine dust mass concentration (DMC) are needed for health and ventilation on-demand applications. The currently used method requires capturing aerosol on filters by means of a vacuum pump and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopic (FTIR) analysis so that end-of-work-s...

Respirable coal mine dust (RCMD) are hazardous materials that may highly impact underground coal miners' health. Continuous monitoring of respirable silica dust levels in mining environments is crucial to ensure the safety of mine workers. RingIR Company utilizes patented cavity ringdown optical spe...

Dust control using a horizontally installed air-blocking shelf inside a drill shroud was shown to be effective by researchers at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). However, when a medium-sized drilling machine lowers its mast, material deposited on the shelf can produ...

Prolonged exposure to high concentrations of respirable coal mine dust causes coal workers' pneumoconiosis and silicosis. Roof bolter operators in underground coal mines have a higher risk of coal dust overexposure. The canopy air curtain (CAC) was developed by NIOSH to protect roof bolter operators...

Characterization of respirable dust on the basis of particle constituents and sizes is increasingly of concern for evaluating exposure hazards. For high-resolution particle analysis, scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive X-ray (SEM-EDX) can be an effective tool, though it requires part...