China's coal mine dust treatment technology has made a major breakthrough

Hongliulin Mining Company is a typical representative of China's super-large modern mine, which has high production efficiency and large quantity of underground vehicles, leading to serious occupational hazards such as dust, fuel and vehicle exhaust, and difficulties in prevention and control. Conditions in coal mines in the coal-producing provinces of Inner Mongolia, Ningxia and Xinjiang are similar, meaning the Hongliulin demonstration project is crucial to solving the world's challenges of underground air purification and occupational health.

Yuan Liang introduced that the current project has made a number of gratifying major breakthroughs. For example, at the theoretical level, the concept of underground air revolution in coal mines and the concept of "source-regional-classing-policy" treatment of dust in mining face areas were first proposed. The first large-scale physical simulation platform for air pollutant transport in confined space was developed to reveal the transport law of dust and fuel vehicle exhaust and the dust removal mechanism of fine water mist under the action of air flow field. The pathogenesis of lung inflammation and pulmonary fibrosis induced by exposure to coal dust and fuel vehicle exhaust pollutants was revealed, biomarkers of early health damage in miners were screened, the first coal mine dust exposure population cohort and biobank were established in China, and many gaps in the domestic coal mine dust population cohort were filled.

At the same time, the research team has also made a series of pioneering achievements in the construction of key technical equipment and systems. For example, it has developed a set of new technologies and equipment for efficient prevention and control of dust in the whole production chain of underground mining and mining areas of coal mines, as well as non-precious metal low-temperature catalytic oxidation efficient purification technology for pollutants from fuel vehicles, and efficient individual protection technology and related products; For the first time, the combined operation optimization system of underground fuel trucks based on exhaust emission and the online air quality monitoring and health intelligent early warning system of underground coal mine were developed.

At the appraisal conference, the expert group led by Wang Shuangming, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and professor of Xi 'an University of Science and Technology, and Peng Suping, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and professor of China University of Mining and Technology (Beijing), agreed that after the application and demonstration of the project series of research results in Hongliulin Mining, "remarkable economic and social benefits have been achieved." It has a wide range of promotion and application prospects "and" has reached the international leading level ".

■■ The integration of science, technology and medicine has achieved remarkable results

Talking about the changes brought by the project for Hongliulin Mining Company, Zhang Hong said: "Not only has the project solved the problem of controlling the large amount of dust produced by the coal cutting machine at the large mining height, the dust source is multiple and dispersed, and the coal dust is poor wettability, but the floating dust that was visible to the naked eye has been slightly invisible, and it is becoming a reality for miners to breathe fresh air in the 100 meters underground."

The relevant data show that after Hongliulin Mining Company adopts the above advanced technology achievements, the total dust removal rate of mine exceeds 91%; The CO purification efficiency of fuel vehicle exhaust is more than 70%, and the CH purification efficiency is more than 80%. Moreover, in the past two years, direct economic benefits of 85 million yuan have been obtained, with significant security, economic, environmental and social benefits.

Yuan Liang introduced that the above series of research results can not only be widely promoted and applied in similar mines across the country, but also have a wide range of application prospects in tunnel engineering and underground defense fortifications.

The reporter learned that Anhui University of Science and Technology has a medical school, with an integrated talent training system, as early as 2015, put forward the scientific concept of mine occupational health, committed to big data, artificial intelligence and 5G technology as the support, to build a mine smart health security system. In February 2019, with the approval of the Ministry of Education, the school was approved as the "Key Laboratory of Industrial Dust Control and Occupational Safety and Health of the Ministry of Education", opening the practice of integrating dust control and occupational safety and health "science and technology and medicine".

According to the "Strategic blueprint for Coal mine dust Prevention and Control and occupational safety and Health Development in the next 20 years" proposed by Yuan Liang in the medium and long-term consulting research project of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, the occupational life cycle health of mine employees will be basically realized in 2035, and the incidence of occupational diseases and the occupational life cycle health of personnel will be fully realized in 2050.