Two-level factorial analysis used to optimise dust suppression parameters

Abstract

The most popular dust control method in US coal mines is the use of water, either in the form of water sprays on longwall faces or through the use of scrubbers in continuous miners. Factors, such as type of coal mined, water pump pressure, wetting agent used and its concentration, and size of liquid droplets, may all affect the performance of such system. Previous studies on coal dust suppression have concentrated only on the effect of a single variable without taking into consideration the interactions of all these variables which also play an important role in the dust suppression process. Because of the number of possible combinations that have to be examined to study the full impact of all variables, the factorial analysis method can be used to greatly reduce the number of tests that are necessary to study the effect of each and combined effect on overall dust suppression performance.