Proceedings of the U.S. Bureau of Mines Technology Transfer Seminar, Louisville, Kentucky, April 1987 (IC-9141)
Authors: E. E. Thimons (USBM) and C. E. Brechtel (AAI)
Providing adequate airflow to effectively dilute and remove diesel pollutants in large mine working headings is a little researched area. A simulated diesel mucking operation was carried out in the Exxon Colony Pilot Mine in Colorado to establish expected levels of diesel pollutants in dead-end working headings. This heading was nominally 50-ft wide by 30-ft high. Two face ventilation systems were tested using sulphur hexafluoride tracer gas to represent the diesel pollutants. The results of these tests showed that conventional face ventilation systems operating at high flow rates could adequately ventilate diesel equipment in the 600- to 700-hp range, even in a 300-ft-long dead heading.
