College of Mining Engineering, Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan 030024, China.
Molecules. 2023 Jun 13;28(12):4748. doi: 10.3390/molecules28124748.
Inhalable coal dust poses a serious threat to coal mining safety, air quality, and the health of miners. Therefore, the development of efficient dust suppressants is crucial for addressing this issue. This study evaluated the ability of three high-surface-active OPEO-type nonionic surfactants (OP4, OP9, and OP13) to improve the wetting properties of anthracite via extensive experiments and a molecular simulation and determined the micro-mechanism of different wetting properties. The surface tension results show that OP4 has the lowest surface tension (27.182 mN/m). Contact angle tests and wetting kinetics models suggest that OP4 exhibits the strongest wetting improvement ability on raw coal with the smallest contact angle (20.1°) and the fastest wetting rate. In addition, FTIR and XPS experimental results also reveal that OP4-treated coal surfaces introduce the most hydrophilic elements and groups. UV spectroscopy testing shows that OP4 has the highest adsorption capacity on the coal surface, reaching 133.45 mg/g. The surfactant is adsorbed on the surface and pores of anthracite, while the strong adsorption ability of OP4 results in the least amount of N adsorption (8.408 cm/g) but the largest specific surface area (1.673 m/g). In addition, the filling behavior and aggregation behavior of surfactants on the anthracite coal surface were observed using SEM. The MD simulation results indicate that OPEO reagents with overly long hydrophilic chains would produce spatial effects on the coal surface. Under the influence of the π-π interaction between the hydrophobic benzene ring and the coal surface, OPEO reagents with fewer ethylene oxide quantities are more prone to adsorb onto the coal surface. Therefore, after the adsorption of OP4, both the polarity and the water molecule adhesion ability of the coal surface are greatly enhanced, which helps to suppress dust production. These results provide important references and a foundation for future designs of efficient compound dust suppressant systems.
可吸入煤尘对煤矿安全、空气质量和矿工健康构成严重威胁。因此，开发高效的抑尘剂对于解决这个问题至关重要。本研究通过广泛的实验和分子模拟评估了三种高表面活性 OPEO 型非离子表面活性剂（OP4、OP9 和 OP13）对无烟煤润湿性能的改善能力，并确定了不同润湿性能的微观机理。表面张力结果表明，OP4 的表面张力最低（27.182 mN/m）。接触角测试和润湿动力学模型表明，OP4 对原煤具有最强的润湿改善能力，接触角最小（20.1°），润湿速率最快。此外，FTIR 和 XPS 实验结果也表明，OP4 处理后的煤表面引入了最多的亲水性元素和基团。紫外光谱测试表明，OP4 对煤表面的吸附量最大，达到 133.45mg/g。表面活性剂被吸附在无烟煤的表面和孔隙中，而 OP4 较强的吸附能力导致其氮吸附量最小（8.408 cm/g），但比表面积最大（1.673 m/g）。此外，还通过 SEM 观察了表面活性剂在无烟煤表面的填充行为和聚集行为。MD 模拟结果表明，亲水链过长的 OPEO 试剂会对煤表面产生空间效应。在疏水性苯环与煤表面之间的π-π相互作用的影响下，较少数量的环氧乙烷的 OPEO 试剂更容易吸附到煤表面。因此，OP4 吸附后，煤表面的极性和水分子附着力大大增强，有助于抑制粉尘产生。这些结果为未来高效复合抑尘剂系统的设计提供了重要的参考和基础。
