• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.47-55
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• 1991

Exposure level of respirable coal dust of underground coal mines in Taebaek area was evaluated. Personal air samplers with 10-mm nylone cyclones were attached to the coal workers including drillers, coal cutters, their assistants, haulers, and separators. Log-normality of respirable dust exposure concentration were tested by Kolmogorov-Smirnov one-sample test. Differences of means of respirable dust exposure concentration between work sites were tested by one-way ANOVA test and multiple comparison(Scheffe) test. And differences of respirable dust exposure concentration of principal and assistant workers in drilling sites and in coal faces were tested by paired t-test. Relation of respirable dust exposure concentration for the principal workers and their assistants in drilling sites and in coal faces were tested by regression analysis. The results were as follows : 1. All of the respirable dust concentration were log-normally distributed. 2. There were not only significantly different means of exposure concentration between drillers and coal cutters but between coal cutters and haulers. 3. Means of exposure concentration of drillers and drilling assistants were not significantly different. And means of exposure concentration of coal cutters and coal cutting assistants were not different.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.139-142
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• 2021

Coal-fired power plants use coal as the main raw material, and when a coal is moved, a dust generation and spontaneous ignition of coal occur. To prevent this, water is sprayed. As a result, wastewater called "coal-dust water" flows out of coal dust and water mixed together, causing environmental pollution. In this study, in order to solve this problem, we developed a natural flocculant that can purify water by aggregating fine dust using chitosan and tried to prove its applicability. It was found that the optimum flocculation concentration was 4 ppm by adding various concentrations of flocculant to the coal-dust water, and it was confirmed that the developed material had very good coal-dust flocculation capacity through permeability and coal-dust removal efficiency. In addition, the cytotoxicity of the flocculant was evaluated through the MTT assay and it was found that there is no toxicity at all. We believe that the flocculant developed in this study can effectively adsorb coal-dust without affecting human and natural ecosystems.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.6-11
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• 1992

This study was carried out to investigate exposure level, size distribution, and respirable mass fraction of airborne coal dust and heavy metal concentration of respirable coal dust at each work site in coal briquet factory from July 1991 to September 1991. Geometric mean of total dust concentration was 10.88mg/m$^{3}$ at storage shop, 8.22mg/m$^{3}$ at pulverize shop, and 3.79mg/m$^{3}$ at rotary press shop, respectively, but those at storage and pulverize shop were higher than TLV. Geometric mean of respirable coal dust concentration wat 1.03mg/m$^{3}$ at storage shop, 0.78mg/m$^{3}$ at pulverize shop, and 0.55mg/m$^{3}$ at rotary press shop, respectively, which were lower than TLV Aerodynamic 50% cutoff diameter of the suspended coal dust was 5$\mu$m at rotary press shop and 6.8$\mu$m at storage shop, ranged to thoracic particulate defined by ACGIH, and deposited in the region of repiratory system. The mass fraction rate of respirable dust to the total coal dust was 26.2% at rotary press shop, 18.8% at storage shop, and 13.8% at pulverize shop, respectively. Heavy metal concentrations of the respirable coal dust were 0.028mg/m$^{3}$ ib Fe, 0.0081mg/m$^{3}$ in Cu, and 0.0039mg/m$^{3}$ in Pb.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Gas
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.62-69
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• 2023

The use of low-grade coal is continuously increasing with the development of combustion technology and cost reduction for coal used in thermal power plants . During combustion, the latent heat of evaporation due to moisture is large, and there is a risk of spontaneous combustion and dust explosion during the process of storing and pulverizing coal. This study compared and evaluated the minimum explosive concentration and explosive strength of four types of coal dust-fine, coal dust-coarse, wood pallet+organic dust, and wood chip with coal powder collected from domestic power plant D. The minimum explosive concentration of coal dust was measured according to JIS Z 8818:2002, and the explosion strength was tested according to ASTM E1226 using a Siwek 20 L Chamber Apparatus. As a result of the minimum explosive concentration test, it was found that coal dust-fine has a risk of dust explosion, and since an explosion occurs at a dust concentration of 130 g/m³ of wood chips, it was found that there is a risk of explosion at the lowest dust concentration. According to the dust explosion class standard, Kst is less than 200 bar m/s, and all samples fall under the explosion class St 1, and the dust has a low risk of explosion.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.23-32
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• 1988

The exposure level of respirable dust and silica for the coal workers of underground coal mines in Taebaek area was evaluated. Personal air samplers were attached to the coal workers-drillers, coal cutters, their helpers, haulers, and separators. Normality and lognormality of respirable dust and silica concentrations were tested by Kolmogorov-Smirnov one-sample test, differences of means of respirable dust and silica concentration were tested by group-t-test and paired t-test, and relation between respirable dust and silica concentration were tested by regression test.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.589-609
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• 2017

This study carried out the density and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and particle size analysis which are the physical characteristics of coal dust by collecting samples of coal dust in the five domestic mines to control the coal dust through ventilation in the workplace for coal mining in the country. This will contribute to a more comfortable working environment by understanding the physical characteristics of the coal dust which is derived from any hard coal produced domestically. In particular, the result of PSA analysis showed that the size of coal dust sample for this study ranged from $0.007{\sim}88.614{\mu}m$ were the particles less than $3.5{\mu}m$, the size range responsible for pneumoconiosis. To observe the flow of coal dust collected on the wind speed, the fallout of coal dust produced by the wind tunnel for the wind was measured and the particle size analysis of coal dust fallout was carried out. In addition, airborne dust is measured according to the mine velocity by using a multi-stage Anderson sampler in the mine where fine dust is generated in a large amount and the wind speed is found out to control the coal dust below $3.5{\mu}m$. In addition, natural ventilation pressure of A mine was calculated to prevent over design of the main fan.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Visualization
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.39-45
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• 2021

An experiment to visualize fine dust captured by FOG droplet is conducted. Coal dust with 23.56 MMD (Mean Median Diameter) and water with 17.02 MMD is used as fine dust and FOG droplet. Long distance microscope and high-speed camera are used to capture the images of micro-scale particles sprinkled by acrylic duct. After measuring and comparing the size of the coal dust and FOG droplet to MMD, process to seize the coal dust with FOG droplet is recorded in 2 conditions: Fixed and Floated coal dust in the floated FOG droplet flow. In both conditions, a coal dust particle is collided and captured by a FOG droplet particle. A FOG droplet particle attached at the surface of the coal dust particle does not break and remains spherical shape due to surface tension. Combined particles are rotated by momentum of the particle and fallen.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.82-88
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• 1991

Determination of Cu, Fe, Ni, Pb, and Zn concentrations in coal and respirable coal dust were performed by atomic absorption spectrophotometry. The coal samples of 18 coal mines in Gangneung area were collected and 25 coal mines in Taebaek area. Crushed coal samples were divided into three mesh sizes. The results were as follows : 1. Metal concentrations of coals in Gangneung area by sieve sizes( -100/+200 mesh, -200/+325 mesh, -325 mesh) were as follows: Cu ; 20, 18, 19, Fe ; 1,830, 1,765, 1,107, Pb ; 6, 8, 14, Ni ; 17, 17, 14, Zn ; 4, 2, $4{\mu}g/g$, respectively. Metal concentrations in coals in Taebaek area by sieve sizes(-100/+200 mesh, -200/+325 mesh, -325 mesh) were as follows: Cu ; 30, 32, 26, Fe ; 1,741, 1,822, 1,773, Pb ; 8, 9, 7, Ni ; 13, 13, 13, Zn ; 8, 5, $4{\mu}g/g$, respectively. There were not significant differences of Cu, Fe, Ni, Pb, and Zn concentrations of coals statistically in Gangneung and Taebaek area by sieve size. 2. Metal concentrations of coals in Gangneung and Taeback area were as follows : Cu ; 19, 30, Fe ; 1,514, 1,778, Pb ; 9, 8, Ni ; 16, 13, Zn ; 3, $6{\mu}g/g$, respectively. Differences of copper and zinc concentrations of coal samples were significant between Gangneung and Taebaek area, but those of iron, nickel and lead concentrations were not significant. 3. Copper, iron, lead, nickel and zinc concentrations of coals and respirable coal dust were as follows : Cu ; 30, 6, Fe ; 1,779, 5,075, Pb ; 8, 7,814, Ni ; 13, 5,681, Zn ; 5, $134{\mu}g/g$, respectively. Differences of nickel, lead and zinc concentrations were significant between coals and respirable coal dust but those of copper and iron concentrations were not significant.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.296-305
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• 2017

Background: Surfactant-containing water sprays are commonly used in coal mines to collect dust. This study investigates the dust collection performance of different surfactant types for a range of coal dust particle sizes and charges. Methods: Bituminous coal dust aerosol was generated in a wind tunnel. The charge of the aerosol was either left unaltered, charge-neutralized with a neutralizer, or positively- or negatively-charged using a diffusion charger after the particles were neutralized. An anionic, cationic, or nonionic surfactant spray or a plain water spray was used to remove the particles from the air flow. Some particles were captured while passing through spray section, whereas remaining particles were charge-separated using an electrostatic classifier. Particle size and concentration of the charge-separated particles were measured using an aerodynamic particle sizer. Measurements were made with the spray on and off to calculate overall collection efficiencies (integrated across all charge levels) and efficiencies of particles with specific charge levels. Results: The diameter of the tested coal dust aerosol was $0.89{\mu}m{\pm}1.45$ [geometric $mean{\pm}geometric$ standard deviations (SD)]. Respirable particle mass was collected with $75.5{\pm}5.9%$ ($mean{\pm}SD$) efficiency overall. Collection efficiency was correlated with particle size. Surfactant type significantly impacted collection efficiency: charged particle collection by nonionic surfactant sprays was greater than or equal to collection by other sprays, especially for weakly-charged aerosols. Particle charge strength was significantly correlated with collection efficiency. Conclusion: Surfactant type affects charged particle spray collection efficiency. Nonionic surfactant sprays performed well in coal dust capture in many of the tested conditions.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.257-263
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• 2008

We have examined explosion characteristics of bituminous coal dusts in cement manufacturing process. In order to find the thermal properties, we investigated weight loss and ignition temperature of coal materials using TGA and DSC. Also specific surface area of dust was investigated. Dust explosion experiments with Hartman's dust explosion apparatus have been conducted by varying concentration and size of coal dust for explosion probability and lower limit explosion concentration. According to the results for thermal properties, there is a little change by dust size. However, the specific surface area of dust is increased by decreasing dust size. The explosion test results show that small size and increasing concentration of dusts make dust explosion easier. And we find that the lower limit explosion concentration of bituminous coal is $0.3mg/cm^3$ and the probability is 100% on $0.9mg/cm^3$ in 170/200 mesh used in cement manufacturing process.