Mining Contract: Respirable Coal Mine Dust (RCMD) Research: Characterization, Deposition, Monitoring, and Mitigation of RCMD and Capacity Building for Mine Health and Safety

Contract #	75D30119C06390
Start Date	9/15/2019
Research Concept	Respirable coal mine dust (RCDM) in underground mines consists of a mixture of very small particles of coal, silica, silicate minerals, and other minerals as well as organic materials found in the mine environment. If inhaled, respirable dust can penetrate through the upper tracheobronchial (TB) airways and enter into the lower TB airways as well as the alveolar region. The inhalation of RCDM, depending on its concentration, exposure duration, and characteristics, can cause incurable lung diseases, including coal workers’ pneumoconiosis (CWP, also known as black lung disease), silicosis, and progress massive fibrosis (PMF).

Contract Status & Impact

This contract is ongoing. For more information on this contract, send a request to mining@cdc.gov.

Under this contract, in addition to conducting a comprehensive study of the characterization, respiratory deposition, monitoring, and mitigation of RCMD, investigators will use an innovative Mobile Aerosol Lung Deposition Apparatus (MALDA) to thoroughly and systematically estimate the RCMD respiratory deposition and the effect of the RCDM characteristics on respiratory deposition. This effort will also advance the understanding of dust control through the study of the surface chemistry of the RCMD and its interaction with water droplets and potential methods to enhance the capturing efficiency, an evaluation of the efficacy of ultrasonic atomizing nozzle system to mitigate submicron dust particles, and investigation of the deposition of agglomerated particles in the human lung.

The investigators will use this work to train, educate, and graduate eight mining engineering graduate students and generate expertise in the area of mine health and safety, dust control, and mine ventilation—further building capacity in the field for future research. The expertise of the team members in the areas of mine ventilation, fluid mechanics, surface chemistry, and industrial hygiene will be used to advance science and technology related to dust control and monitoring, thereby reducing RCMD exposure in underground coal mines.

To achieve these goals, the research team will undertake the tasks detailed below.

Investigate the characteristics of respirable coal mine dust in west and east coal regions, and explore the relationship between the characterization and respiratory deposition of RCMD on the lungs.
Analyze the surface chemistry characteristics of respirable coal dust in order to understand the interaction of RCMD particles with water droplets, particularly as the particles interact with water from different water spray nozzles intended to work within a mine ventilation strategy.
Evaluate the efficacy of the ultrasonic atomizing nozzle system to mitigate submicron dust particles, and to investigate the deposition of agglomerated particles in the human lung.
Investigate the effectiveness of mass-concentration-based and number-concentration-based RCMD sampling techniques for estimation of the true dose of RCMD deposition on the lungs as compared to MALDA estimates.
Develop a respirable coal mine dust exposure predictive model in order to estimate the level of exposure at various locations of an underground coal mine.
Train and educate three PhD and five MS graduate students in mining engineering and develop new expertise in mine health and safety with the emphasis on mine dust control.