Lee Taehee, Park Junhyeok, Knoff David S, Kim Kwangmin, Kim Minkyu
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA.
Department of Mining and Geological Engineering, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA.
RSC Adv. 2019;9(68):40146-40151. doi: 10.1039/C9RA06787F. Epub 2019 Dec 3.
Airborne dust is a byproduct of natural and artificial occurrences, including high winds in arid regions and human activities that affect most of the world's population. Watering is the most general practice for reducing airborne dust by wetting the surface of the dust source to agglomerate dust particles via capillary effect, increasing the aerodynamic diameter of (ultra)fine particles and reducing dust emission. However, the short-term effectiveness due to fast water evaporation, requiring frequent watering, is a major disadvantage. Herein, we utilized biocompatible liquid polymers as additives in water to prolong moist conditions of dust sources due to their liquid state. After the water evaporated, liquid polymers maintained moisture on dust sources, resulting in significantly reduced (ultra)fine particle emissions and extended effectiveness compared to conventional water treatment. Interestingly, we observed greater dust suppressive effectiveness with liquid amphiphilic polymer than liquid hydrophilic polymer because of the synergistic effect of the liquid state and amphiphilic property of the polymer. Translating lab-scale experiments to pilot-scale field-testing confirmed the potential for utilizing biocompatible liquid amphiphilic polymers to advance airborne dust suppression technology.
空气中的灰尘是自然和人为活动的副产品，包括干旱地区的大风以及影响世界大多数人口的人类活动。洒水是通过湿润灰尘源表面以借助毛细作用使灰尘颗粒团聚、增加（超）细颗粒的空气动力学直径并减少灰尘排放来减少空气中灰尘的最常见做法。然而，由于水分快速蒸发导致短期有效性，需要频繁洒水，这是一个主要缺点。在此，我们将生物相容性液体聚合物用作水中的添加剂，由于它们的液态，可延长灰尘源的潮湿条件。水蒸发后，液体聚合物在灰尘源上保持水分，与传统水处理相比，可显著减少（超）细颗粒排放并延长有效性。有趣的是，由于聚合物的液态和两亲性的协同作用，我们观察到液体两亲聚合物比液体亲水性聚合物具有更大的抑尘效果。将实验室规模的实验转化为中试规模的现场测试证实了利用生物相容性液体两亲聚合物推进空气中灰尘抑制技术的潜力。
