Advanced salt-resistant surfactants for optimizing wettability and dust control in bituminous coal

A green and biodegradable composite surfactant was developed by adopting surfactant compounding technology to solve the problem of poor dust suppression due to high-mineralization mine water in some coal mines. The surfactant was made of 0.42 % AOS and 0.18 % HSB-12. It had excellent salt resistance and wettability, and was suitable for saline environment with a concentration of 0.2 %-2.0 %. Compared to AOS, its surface tension, contact angle, and settling time were reduced by 10.02 %, 10.87 %, and 60.16 %, respectively. Compared to HSB12, these values decreased by-17.33 %, 15.98 %, and 41.89 %. Additionally, its reverse osmosis height was 51.22 % higher than AOS and 55 % higher than HSB-12. The surfactant can be directly formulated as a dust suppressant with high-mineralization mine water, reducing the cost of dust removal, advancing the use of mine water, and minimizing ecological pollution.