The article is dedicated to the results of studies of the selection of optimal working fluid to control floating dust in the atmosphere of underground workings of potash mines in order to ensure the safety of mining operations, as high concentrations of the sylvinite dust are one of the main problems as a result of the multifactor impact on the health of workers.
Ore mining in potash mines is directly associated with the high concentration of fine dust containing chlorides, silicates, and other mineral particles. This causes the environmental contamination: the dust penetrating the surface pollutes soil, water bodies, and the air impacting ecosystems and agriculture; the balance of microelements in soil is disrupted, its fertility is reduced; suspended dust particles may affect the local climate increasing the greenhouse effect, which causes the rise of dust load on stopes and growing risk of occupational diseases of dust etiology. Notably, the sylvinite dust control has significant engineering limitations for the existing methods, of which the main one is the incompatibility of normal water, that is the main working fluid in dust control systems, with the ore chemical composition due to the risk of salt dissolving, which may cause rock collapse and corrosion of metal parts and lead to failures of mechanisms, significant losses due to the downtime, growing expenses on compensations and treatment.
A concentrated water solution of sylvinite ore, a so-called brine, is proposed to be used as a working fluid, which ensures the minimum impact on the host rocks of mine workings. Results of bench tests, considering errors, proved to be close in terms of the air/dust flow dedusting efficiency when using brine and water spraying. Therefore, considering the harmful factors of water impact in the conditions of a mine, as well as the results of earlier tests to determine the extent of loss of irrigated potash ore mass caused by water and brine spraying, using the brine for dust control is advisable. It has been shown that the loss of sample mass from the ore substance when processed with the brine is 4-6 times lower than when it is processed with water, which enables using the brine rationally, not disrupting the continuity of host rocks.
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