The preparation of a novel hydrogel based on crosslinked polymers for suppressing coal dusts

Coal is one of the most important energy sources in China, and a lot of coal dust will be produced in the process of coal production and transportation. The coal dust generated will cause environmental pollution and waste of resources, and it can have adverse effects on human health. Water spraying is usually used to suppress coal dust in coal production and transportation, but the effect of this method is not lasting and a lot of water resources were wasted. In order to better solve the problem of coal dust pollution and waste of water resources, a new dust suppression gel was prepared by graft copolymerization of itaconic acid-acrylic acid polymer and bentonite. The properties of the dust suppression gels were comprehensively studied through chemical experiments, numerical simulation and field tests. The results showed that the wettability of the dust suppression gel to coal dust was 2 times that of the water. Because of the water retention property of the dust suppression gel, the use of dust suppression gel could save 90% of the dust-proof water consumption than that of spraying water. The dust suppression gel had excellent wind erosion resistance and could effectively reduce the occurrence of coal dust during coal transportation. The dust suppression gel is used for dust removal in fully mechanized mining face, and its efficiency is more than 9 times that of spraying water. In summary, the dust suppression gel prepared in this paper is suitable for dust prevention during production and transportation of the coal mining industry, and can effectively reduce the water consumption when dustproofing under the condition of improving dust removal efficiency. This study is of great significance to the sustainable development of coal mining industry and environmental protection.