Recently, the China Coal Industry Association and the China Coal Society jointly announced the winning projects of the 2023 China Coal Industry Association Science and Technology Award, and the project "Basic Research on Coal Mine Air Purification and Occupational Health in Northern Shaanxi Mining Area, Key Technical Equipment and Demonstration" led by Hongliulin Mining Company of Shaanxi Coal Group won the special prize, ranking first in the national list. This means that the company's "underground air quality revolution" demonstration mine construction has made major scientific and technological innovation achievements and breakthroughs in dust control and occupational health protection of mining enterprises across the country, which has great promotion value and significant economic and social benefits.
Exploration: Seek a new path for dust control in the coal industry
"Coal blacks" trapped in the dust. This aptly describes the confession of the miner's heart. "We need to carry out an 'underground air quality revolution' and carry out a new mine air treatment model, so that millions of miners in Hongliulin, Shaanxi Coal Group and even the national coal industry can breathe fresh air, and make miners a safe, happy and respected profession." This is the ambition of Zhang Hong, secretary of the party committee and chairman of the company.
Only by seeing the "changing situation" can we "break the situation". Judging from past practice, whether it is from source management to process control, or end protection, it is not a cure for the symptoms. Chang Bofeng, deputy secretary of the party committee and general manager of the company, recalled, "In the past, a series of dust control measures such as coal mining process optimization, coal seam water injection and dust reduction, laying dust nets, and full-section spray dust reduction could not completely solve the underground air quality problem. ”
The key is to solve the problem of air pollution such as underground dust and fuel vehicle exhaust, and establish a system for the identification and prevention of occupational harmful factors such as dust and fuel vehicle exhaust. In the view of Miao Yanping, chief engineer of the company, the problem of mine air treatment under multi-level and multi-scenario complex conditions is not only a technical problem, but also an industrial ecological problem, which requires the deep integration of various professional disciplines of science, engineering and medicine.
In 2020, the company joined hands with the team of academician Yuan Liang of Anhui University of Science and Technology, and five scientific research institutes, including Xi'an Jiaotong University, China University of Mining and Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Shandong University of Science and Technology, and National Academy of Engineering Technology for Coal Mining.
Starting from the research on six topics, including "basic research on the physical and chemical properties and distribution and migration of underground confined space pollution" and "efficient prevention and control technology and equipment for dust source separation in coal mining areas", starting from breaking through the theoretical bottleneck of mine air pollutant prevention and control in northern Shaanxi mining area, the key technologies and equipment for underground air pollutant prevention and control were developed, and an exploration journey in the blank field of the industry was launched.
Practice: The integration of science, engineering and medicine is promoted in the integration of production, education and research
The path is clear, and the key is how to implement it. According to Professor Xue Sheng of Anhui University of Science and Technology, the project will go through four stages: on-site measurement, law analysis, experimental numerical and physical simulation, technical equipment, platform research and development, on-site application optimization and improvement, integrated demonstration, and application promotion.
After the establishment of the project, Academician Yuan Liang's team took the research group as a unit and conducted many field investigations in the underground. "Taking the 25211 intelligent fully mechanized mining face as an example, the dust concentration in the shearer area accounts for more than 50%, and the dust concentration on the pedestrian side of the hydraulic support accounts for about 244%, and the dust concentration in the return air lane area accounts for about 679%。Professor Tang Mingyun of Anhui University of Science and Technology said, "The research mainly breaks through the theoretical bottleneck of the unclear migration law and mechanism of pollutants in underground confined space under the action of wind flow field, the unclear occupational hazard mechanism of pollutants such as dust and vehicle exhaust in underground confined space, and the systematic lack of efficient dust prevention and control technology in mining areas." ”
On this basis, the project team proposed the precise treatment concept of "source-partition-classification-division" of dust in the underground mining face area, developed key technologies and equipment, and formed a new model of mine air treatment.
How to prevent occupational diseases more efficiently and reduce the incidence of occupational diseases?"Taking the coal lung disease that has plagued coal mine workers for a long time as an example, it is necessary to conduct in-depth research and find a new pathogenesis of coal lung to obtain early prevention and first-class programs, so as to form an occupational hazard mechanism and health security system. Professor Xue Sheng of Anhui University of Science and Technology believes.
To this end, the research group constructed experimental mouse models of coal workers' lungs and silicosis, and obtained the mechanism of coal dust-induced lung inflammation and fibrosis and the effect and potential mechanism of vitamin D intervention by using single-cell sequencing technology and more than 30 cell animal experiments. This key finding effectively prevented lung damage from dust exposure.
Transmutation: The project results have reached the leading level in China
After two years of innovation, the company's underground air quality revolution has achieved several landmark results. "After the application demonstration of new technologies and equipment for efficient dust prevention and control, the total dust reduction rate in the coal mining area reached 912%, and the dust reduction rate is 855%, which effectively solves the treatment problems of large amount of coal cut dust, many and scattered dust sources, and poor wettability of coal dust in the coal machine of the large-scale fully mechanized mining face. Miao Yanping said.
Li Chuanlong, the driver of the company's continuous mining team, said bluntly when talking about the new changes in the underground working face, in the past production process, the continuous operation of the continuous mining machine for a long time led to the accumulation of coal dust and poor visibility of the working face, but now the operating environment has been significantly improved, and the safety has also been guaranteed.
On November 12, 2022, the "Underground Air Quality Revolution" achievement appraisal meeting, which attracted the attention of the national coal industry, was successfully held in the company. At the project appraisal meeting, the expert group unanimously agreed that the project has reached the international leading level, and a number of innovative achievements have provided scientific guidance and research direction for basic research on coal mine dust control and occupational health.
The first large-scale physical simulation platform for the transport of air pollutants in confined space reveals the law of dust and exhaust migration of fuel vehicles and the mechanism of water mist dust reduction under the action of wind flow fieldFor the first time, we have developed an optimized system for the combined operation of underground fuel vehicles based on exhaust emissions and an intelligent early warning system for underground air quality monitoring and personnel health in coal mines, which provides technical support for improving underground air quality and realizes long-term and short-term early warning of underground air qualityThe first coal mine dust exposure cohort and biobank in China have filled many gaps in the study of coal mine dust population cohorts in China.
Talking about the future development direction, Zhang Hong said that we plan to spend three years to further deepen the research of the project, based on the practical experience of the two working faces of "one excavation and one mining", and gradually promote and apply it to the whole mine and the whole chain, and form a series of experience achievements through continuous summary, improvement and optimization. By 2025, a replicable "Hongliulin Plan" will be fully formed, and the "Hongliulin experience" that can be used for reference will be extended to the coal, mining and other industries across the country, so that the freedom to breathe 100 meters underground will become a gospel for millions of miners.
In December this year, the company and the team of academician Yuan Liang of Anhui University of Science and Technology conducted in-depth discussions and exchanges on the formulation of project group standards and the upgrading and promotion of technical equipment. The two sides will continue to deepen exchanges and cooperation, comprehensively summarize the operation status of underground dust control technology, fuel vehicle exhaust treatment, and underground air quality monitoring and early warning system, improve the theoretical system of multi-source, multi-phase and multi-field dust collaborative dust reduction and comprehensive treatment, further increase the innovation and research and development of relevant scientific and technological instruments and equipment, and high-end medical equipment, and deeply refine and summarize the innovation achievements to form industry standards and norms.
In the future, the company will work with the academician team to promote the integration of coal mine safety and occupational hazard supervision, the cross-integration of science, engineering and medical management, and the strengthening of the transformation and application of scientific and technological achievements, improve the theoretical system of multi-source, multi-phase and multi-field dust collaborative dust reduction and comprehensive treatment, support the research and development of relevant scientific and technological instruments and equipment, and high-end medical equipment, and explore a new path for the health and well-being of all miners(Li Bo Qin Qi).