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On the Occurrence and Persistence of Coal-Mineral Microagglomerates in Respirable Coal Mine Dust

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Abstract

A previous effort to characterize respirable coal mine dust in 16 US mines turned up a curious finding: particle-based analysis using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) tended to overpredict the abundance of dust sourced from rock strata, and underpredict the abundance of coal, when compared to mass-based thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). One possible explanation is the occurrence of coal-mineral microagglomerates (MAGs). Coal particles covered with fine mineral dust could be mostly coal by mass but classified as minerals by SEM due to their surface elemental content. In the current study, a subset of the previously analyzed mine dust samples was re-examined, and SEM images and elemental mapping showed that MAGs are indeed present. Furthermore, dust samples were created and sampled passively in the laboratory, demonstrating that MAG formation can occur due to dust generation processes and the sampling environment, rather than as a mere artifact of respirable dust sampling procedures. Finally, experiments were conducted to evaluate dispersibility of MAGs in liquid suspensions, which might shed some light on their possible fate upon inhalation. Results indicated that sonication in deionized water was effective for MAG dispersion, and a solution that mimics natural lung surfactant also appeared to enhance dispersibility. An understanding of MAG occurrence might be important in terms of exposure assessment.

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Notes

  1. Agglomerates are generally defined as a cluster of particles in which one relatively larger particle serves as a platform for other finer particles that adhere to it. In some cases, the cluster may be formed of similarly sized particles. In the current work, no distinction is made between these cases. Rather, the emphasis is on the relative size of the cluster itself. If the entire cluster is in the respirable range (i.e., less than about 10 µm), herein it is termed a micro-agglomerate (MAG).

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Funding

The authors would like to express our sincere appreciation to The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) for funding this study (under contract 75D30119C05529). The views and opinions expressed herein are solely those of the authors and do not imply any endorsement by research partners or funding source.

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  1. Department of Mining and Minerals Engineering, Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University, Blacksburg, VA, USA

    Jonathan Gonzalez, Cigdem Keles & Emily Sarver

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  1. Jonathan Gonzalez
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  2. Cigdem Keles
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  3. Emily Sarver
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Correspondence to Emily Sarver.

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Gonzalez, J., Keles, C. & Sarver, E. On the Occurrence and Persistence of Coal-Mineral Microagglomerates in Respirable Coal Mine Dust. Mining, Metallurgy & Exploration 39, 271–282 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42461-022-00555-7

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