STUDY ON A LABORATORY SCALE TO STUDY THE EFFECTS OF LIMESTONE DUST TO PREVENT COAL DUST EXPLOSION

• Main Author: Ahsan Sulthani Pandu, Muhammad
• Format: Final Project
• Language: Indonesia
• Online Access: https://digilib.itb.ac.id/gdl/view/67658
• Institution: Institut Teknologi Bandung

Coal is one of the energy sources that are currently still the main source supplier in the power generation sector in the world. Coal mining can be carried out by the method of open pit mines and underground mines. At this stage of mining, there is one aspect that needs to be considered, namely occupational health and safety issues. Especially in underground mines, dust can be the cause of occupational health and safety problems because it can cause dust explosions. A dust explosion is an explosion triggered by combustible dust material suspended in the air in an enclosed space and exposed to a heat source (Eckhoff, 2003; CSB, 2006). Research has been conducted to analyze this dust explosion, especially coal dust such as (Siwek, 1977) using a 20-liter explosive chamber on a laboratory scale. One of the ways to prevent or suppress the occurrence of coal dust explosions is to add rock dust to the room where there is coal dust. This study aims to test the effect of adding limestone dust size 177-74 ?m and 74-37 ?m on the explosion of coal dust size 74-53 ?m on a laboratory scale. The critical ratio of coal dust to limestone dust size is 177-74 ?m at 62.82 : 37.18 and for limestone dust size 74-37 ?m at 81.99 : 18.01. So that this critical ratio, the effect of limestone dust with a size of 74-37 ?m is better in preventing coal dust explosions because it requires less limestone dust. This is in line with the study (Prasetya, 2022) which tested the same thing with a smaller coal dust size of 53-44 ?m. The smaller the size of the coal dust, the easier it is for the dust to be dispersed in the air so that it can produce a larger explosion of coal dust. The need for limestone dust needed in the prevention of coal dust explosions with a smaller size will be even greater.