SIUC INNOVATIVE SPRAY SYSTEM FOR CONTINUOUS MINERS AND DEVELOPMENT OF LONGWALL DUST CONTROL LABORATORY SIU Research Team Dr. Y. P. Chugh, Dr. Kanchan Mondal, Harrold Gurley, John Pulliam, Mike Smith, Vijaya Kollipara, Ahmad Mdazmi ICCI Project Manager Joseph Hirschi
Acknowledgements Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity Office of Coal Development Illinois Clean Coal Institute Cooperating Mining Companies ICG/Arch Viper Mine Knight Hawk Coal Company Foresight Energy Peabody Energy Alliance Resource Partners
Foundations of Concept Improve wetting Wetter material = less fugitive dust Confine dust to the face area Don t let it escape Increase residence time Enable sprays and scrubber to do their job Concentrate dust in small volumes Improve scrubber efficiency Prevent dust roll-back Protect miner and haulage unit operators Minimize spray cone interaction Keep water droplets small COMPLIANCE Meet pending reduced dust standard
Dust Sources While Loading Return air Dust HU Oper Dust from tail Scrubber exhaust Roll back dust Dust Dust from cutter drum Dust Intake air Continuous miner operator Dust from cutting coal Dust from loading Roll back dust Haulage unit Continuous miner chassis Dust from loading pan
Concepts of SIUC Spray System Dust TLD sprays Dust Dust SLD sprays Dust Dust
Second and Third Line of Defense Sprays Second line of defense sprays Third line of defense sprays Conventional sprays
Spray Block Design Current blocks have multiple spray orientations with minimal spacing so that spray cones intersect near spray nozzles New blocks add SLD sprays while minimizing interaction between all sprays on the cutting head boom
Spray System Comparison Example Spray location Conventional spray system SIUC Innovative spray system Across top of cutter head 14 17 Under cutter head 8 6 Outer bit rings 4 4 Side cutter boom 6 6 Side chassis 6 5 TLD 0 5 Conveyor throat 4 4 Total number of sprays 42 47 Total water volume (GPM) 25.2 28.2 Note: This type of comparison is mine-specific
Field Demonstration Data Collection Ventilation Last open crosscut (LOXC) intake air volume running and idle Air volume entering the line curtain (LC) at the corner in LOXC Air volume at end of LC near face running and idle Air volume leaking past LC in the LOXC LOXC return air volume running and idle Scrubber on and off times Production Number of haulage units (HU) loaded Conveyor on and conveyor off times HU haulage routes and staging locations Mining sequence box cut, slab cut, clean up, delays, line curtain extension, etc. Cut type straight, turn crosscut, etc. Cut geometry height, width, depth, out-of-seam dilution, etc. Dust samples Time-weighted average dust concentration using ELF Escort dust pumps Real-time dust concentration using Thermo Scientific PDr 1000an personal dust monitor MSHA P-7 quartz analysis on selected dust cassettes
Typical Dust Sampling Locations
Field Demonstration System Checks All water sprays are operating checked before each cut Water spray pressures checked 2 to 3 times per shift Scrubber screen cleaned before each cut Vacuum (in/h 2 0) at scrubber inlets checked twice per shift Scrubber volume (with pitot tube) checked once per shift Cutter head bits replaced damaged bits before each cut
Continuous Miner Configurations for Field Demonstrations CM-CON: Continuous miner with conventional sprays CM-NIS: Continuous miner equipped with innovative sprays, but innovative sprays not operating CM-IS: Continuous miner equipped with innovative sprays operating
Innovative Sprays at Mine A Room-and-pillar walk-between super section Mining height is about 7 ft. Typical out-of-seam dilution is 6-8 in.
Mine A Results Location Percent (%) Improvement CM-IS vs. CM-NIS Percent (%) Improvement CM-IS vs. CM-CON CMO 28.5 33.9 HUO -13.0 17.8 RTI 22.4 5.9 RTO 29.1-14.2
Quartz Sampling Results at Mine A 4.8% reduction in quartz concentration during CM-IS sampling CM-IS - 11.2 inches out-of-seam dilution CM-NIS - 9.1 inches out-of-seam dilution CM-NIS made deeper cuts
Innovative Sprays at Mine B Room-and-pillar split ventilation super section Mining height is 5.5 6 ft. Typical out-of-seam dilution is 6-8 in.
Results from Mine B Percent (%) reduction CM spray configuration Gravimetric data PDM TWA data CMO HUO RT CMO HUO RT CM-IS vs. CM-CON 56.5 68.8 58.5 43.2 48.6 45.2 CM-IS vs. CM-NIS -106.3 1.5 41.5 42.5 9.2 39.6
Innovative Sprays at Mine C Gate entry development Mining height is 10-14 ft. Typical out-of-seam dilution is 4-5 ft. Large pillar sizes 100 x 125 ft. Mine C uses wet-head continuous miners
Results from Mine C Gravimetric data WHM vs. WHM with Innovative Sprays Location Percent (%) reduction CMO 17.9 HUO 55.5 RT 3.1
Innovative Sprays at Mine D Room-and-pillar split ventilation super section Average mining height is 7 ft. Typical out-of-seam dilution is 8-10 in.
Results at Mine D Miner Percent (%) dust reduction CMO HUO RT CM-IS vs. CM CON1 48.0 58.2 66.9 CM-IS vs. CM-CON2 41.9 19.1 7.0 Percent (%) quartz Sampling locations CM-CON CM-IS Average for all locations 1.66 1.54 RT 1.63 1.50 HUO 1.55 1.33 CMO 2.00 2.40
Intellectual Property Protection Provisional patent application filed July 2010 Final application filed July 2011 Patent should be issued this year Current innovative spray blocks were manufactured for experimental use and are marked SIU Patent Pending
Objectives of Longwall Dust Lab
CFD Modeling of Longwall Face Air velocity vectors at mid-height around shearer cutting towards the headgate 3-D model of longwall equipment used for CFD modeling
Construction of Shearer and Cutting Drum in Test Gallery
Shearer Nearing Completion Shearer with trailing drum down Shearer with lead drum raised
Shearer Cutting Drum Full-scale model of Joy 7LS shearer cutting drum Drum can rotate over a range of RPMs Cutting drum can be configured to use pick sprays (mounted behind cutting bits) and/or drum sprays (mounted in drum below cutting bits) Water sprays can be positioned anywhere on the shearer chassis, the panline, and on shields The test gallery will have the capability to operate under a range of air velocities and introduce variable amounts of coal dust and dust from roof and floor strata
Thank You! Questions??