Preparation and performance of DOPO-nano-SiO₂ modified polyacrylic acid-based flame retardant dust suppressant for coal

Aiming to reduce coal dust pollution and spontaneous coal combustion during coal mining, storage, and transportation, a kind of DOPO-nano-SiO2 modified polyacrylic acid-based polymer flame retardant dust suppressant for coal was fabricated using 9,10-dihydro-9-oxa-10-phosphaphenanthrene-10-oxide (DOPO), gamma-aminopropyl triethoxysilane (KH550), nano-SiO2, sodium alginate (SA), and acrylic acid (AA) as raw materials, potassium persulfate (K2S2O8) and sodium bisulfite (NaHSO3) as initiator, and N,N '-methylenebisacrylamide (MBA) as a cross-linking agent by the aqueous solution polymerization method. The product was characterized and analyzed by FT-IR, XPS, XRD, GPC, TG, and DSC techniques. Its flame retardant property, thermal stability, and dust suppression performance were tested, and the activation energy of the pyrolysis reaction was calculated using Flynn-Wall-Ozawa (FWO) method. Compared with the coal sample sprayed with water, the CO mass concentration of the coal sample sprayed with flame retardant dust suppressant was decreased by 80.6%, inhibition rate reached 82.8%, LOI value was 26.1%, and the UL-94 rating was V-0. Moreover, the initial degradation temperature and pyrolysis activation energy were increased by 10.6% and 108%, respectively. After spraying the flame retardant dust suppressant, the pulverized coal particles were tightly bonded together to form a flexible consolidation layer, thereby inhibiting coal dust pollution and loss. The water loss rate, wind erosion loss rate, and oscillation loss rate were decreased by 56.9%, 98.7%, and 97.5%, respectively. These results revealed that the pulverized coal sprayed with the flame retardant dust suppressant exhibited better flame retardant property, thermal stability, and dust suppression performance than that sprayed with water. In summary, the flame retardant dust suppressant prepared in this work could play a key role in inhibiting coal dust pollution and spontaneous coal combustion.