Abstract
A serious risk to the production safety of coal mines is coal dust. The wettability of coal may be successfully changed by adding surfactants to water. However, the creation of very effective dust suppressants is constrained by the lack of knowledge about the microscopic interaction mechanism between coal dust and surfactants. In this investigation, we explained macroscopic experimental phenomena from a molecular perspective. The lauryl polyoxyethylene ethers (C12 (EO)n, n = 7,15,23) were selected. The macromolecular model of anthracite with 55 different components was constructed. Surface tension experiments and hydrophilic lipophilic balance (HLB) calculations showed that the ability of surface hydrophilicization followed the order of C12 (EO)712 >(EO)1512 >(EO)23. Contact angle experiment, XPS and FTIR experiments proved that after the surfactants were adsorbed on the surface of anthracite, the content of carbon element decreased and the content of oxygen element increased, indicating the enhanced surface hydrophilicity. The simulation results showed that with the degree of ethoxylation increases, the adsorption strength of surfactants becomes stronger, and the hydrophilic head group of surfactant on anthracite surface is more uniformly distributed. The greater the degree of ethoxylation, the more powerfully the modified coal surface can bind to water molecules.
Recommended Citation
X. Chen et al., "Molecular Mechanism Study on the Effect of Nonionic Surfactants with Different Degrees of Ethoxylation on the Wettability of Anthracite," Chemosphere, vol. 310, article no. 136902, Elsevier, Jan 2023.
The definitive version is available at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2022.136902
Department(s)
Mining Engineering
Keywords and Phrases
Anthracite; Lauryl Polyoxyethylene Ether; Wettability
International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)
1879-1298; 0045-6535
Document Type
Article - Journal
Document Version
Final Version
File Type
text
Language(s)
English
Rights
© 2023 Elsevier, All rights reserved.
Publication Date
01 Jan 2023
PubMed ID
36265703
Comments
National Natural Science Foundation of China, Grant 51974195