TY - GEN
T1 - Mitigation of mine tailings dust with green biopolymer
AU - Chen, Rui
AU - Zhang, Lianyang
PY - 2014
Y1 - 2014
N2 - Mine tailings (MT) dust is a major environmental concern. Many efforts have been attempted to mitigate MT dust, but all have limitations. The present study investigates the feasibility of utilizing two natural and renewable biopolymers, guar gum and xanthan gum, for MT dust mitigation. Moisture retention tests were performed to evaluate the water retention capacity of MT samples treated with guar gum and xanthan gum solutions at different concentrations. Wind tunnel tests were conducted to investigate the weight loss of biopolymer-treated MT samples after blowing wind for certain period of time. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) imaging was also performed to investigate the microstructure of biopolymer-treated MT. The results indicate that the two biopolymers are effective in increasing the moisture-retention capacity and improving the dust resistance of MT.
AB - Mine tailings (MT) dust is a major environmental concern. Many efforts have been attempted to mitigate MT dust, but all have limitations. The present study investigates the feasibility of utilizing two natural and renewable biopolymers, guar gum and xanthan gum, for MT dust mitigation. Moisture retention tests were performed to evaluate the water retention capacity of MT samples treated with guar gum and xanthan gum solutions at different concentrations. Wind tunnel tests were conducted to investigate the weight loss of biopolymer-treated MT samples after blowing wind for certain period of time. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) imaging was also performed to investigate the microstructure of biopolymer-treated MT. The results indicate that the two biopolymers are effective in increasing the moisture-retention capacity and improving the dust resistance of MT.
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U2 - 10.1061/9780784413272.214
DO - 10.1061/9780784413272.214
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:84906830044
SN - 9780784413272
T3 - Geotechnical Special Publication
SP - 2198
EP - 2205
BT - Geo-Congress 2014 Technical Papers
PB - American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE)
T2 - 2014 Congress on Geo-Characterization and Modeling for Sustainability, Geo-Congress 2014
Y2 - 23 February 2014 through 26 February 2014
ER -