Float coal dust sampling and preliminary analysis

Maintaining sufficient rock dust coverage is vital to preventing a coal dust explosion following a methane ignition. The objective of this research is to sample float coal dust deposited in underground mine airways. Based on research done by the US Bureau of Mines we sampled settled float dust in longwall and, room and pillar mines. Coal samples were taken from the roof, ribs, and floor at multiple breaks along single air splits. The samples were analyzed using thermogravimetric analysis to quantify float coal dust deposition. Preliminary results show the coal dust weight per unit area has uniform variation without regard to ventilation air split. This paper presents the sampling and analysis techniques used with the results obtained with a theory as to the reason for the uniform variation.