Development of new compositions for dust control in the mining and mineral transportation industry

Dust control in summer and winter periods is a topical problem associated with conducting open pit mining operations; however, at negative temperatures the additional requirements are imposed on dust suppressants. Preventive compositions are proposed, in which light and heavy gas oils, obtained from catalytic cracking and delayed coking, are used as base components. Involvement of heavy fractions allows to increase the flash point, thereby reducing the flammability of dust suppressant, improve its adhesion properties by increasing the content of polyaromatic hydrocarbons and reduce the cost of the final product. In order to improve low-temperature and adsorption properties of developed dust suppressants, heavy oil residues (cracking residue and tar) are included in their composition in various concentrations: 2-10 wt.%. Alternative compositions of dust suppressants, obtained by water emulsification of vinylated alkyd oligomer, are developed; the ability of this dispersion to form strong films on dusty surfaces is examined. The efficiency of using aqueous solution of vinylated alkyd oligomer as a summer dust suppressant is demonstrated. The results of this study include the development of new preventive compositions with improved low-temperature properties and confirmation of the theoretical part of the study by the results of performance tests on a laboratory facility.