Study on preparation and properties of mineral surfactant – microbial dust suppressant

In order to solve the problem of coal dust pollution and further improve the dust suppression performance of microbial dust suppressant, a surfactant-microbial dust suppressant is prepared through the addition of surfactant to microbial dust suppressant. The optimal formula is as follows: mineralized bacteria (OD600 ≈ 1.6) cultivated for 48 h, 0.5 mol/L of cementing fluid and 0.08% cocamidopropyl betaine (CAB). Compared with microbial dust suppressant, surfactant (CAB)-microbial dust suppressant has better anti-evaporation and wind erosion resistance. Molecular dynamic simulations and contact angle experiments verified the improvement of the wettability of microbial dust suppressants by surfactants. XRD and SEM-EDS results show that calcium carbonate precipitates in coal dust treated with CAB-microbial dust suppressant, which can consolidate the coal dust particles into a whole. In summary, the addition of surfactants improves the dust suppression efficiency of microbial dust suppressants. [Display omitted] •Clarified the influence of surfactants on bacterial growth and urease activity.•Prepared surfactant-microbial dust suppressant.•Surfactant-microbial dust suppressant has excellent performance.•The dust suppression mechanism of surfactant-microbial dust suppressant was described.