Effect of bioactive agent glucose molecules on coal dust wettability

Rational use of appropriate dust suppressants could effectively mitigate the impact of respirable coal dust on the health of coal miners.Biosurfactants have become increasingly important in the study of coal dust suppression in underground confined environments owing to their biodegradability, low toxicity, and stability.With lignite from the Shendong Bulianta Coal Mine as the research object, this study selected 2 surfactants with different numbers of glucose molecules, n-Dodecyl β-D-maltoside (DDM) and Alkyl Polyglucoside 1214 (APG1214) to investigate the effect of the number of glucose molecules on the wettability of coal dust by combining experimental and simulation methods.Results show that 1) DDM exhibited better wettability performance on Bulianta lignite, with a contact angle value of only 20.1° and a wetting dynamics model diffusion and penetration constant K value of 0.76858, indicating optimal wetting effect; 2) DDM further enhanced the pore structure and specific surface area of coal dust, showing a stronger aggregation effect on coal dust particles from FTIR, XPS, BET, and SEM tests; 3) The increase in hydroxyl functional groups and the proportion of oxygen elements also indicated a significantly enhanced adsorption capacity of DDM on the Bulianta coal surface; 4) Molecular dynamics modeling revealed that the larger number of glucose molecules in DDM surfactant facilitated the formation of stronger hydrophobic interactions with the coal surface, thereby attracting more water molecules to adsorb on the modified coal surface.The resulting hydrogen bonds could improve coal dust wettability.