Mining Safety and Sustainability I

Safety and sustainability are becoming ever bigger challenges for the mining industry with the increasing depth of mining. It is of great significance to reduce the disaster risk of mining accidents, enhance the safety of mining operations, and improve the efficiency and sustainability of development of mineral resource. This book provides a platform to present new research and recent advances in the safety and sustainability of mining. More specifically, Mining Safety and Sustainability presents recent theoretical and experimental studies with a focus on safety mining, green mining, intelligent mining and mines, sustainable development, risk management of mines, ecological restoration of mines, mining methods and technologies, and damage monitoring and prediction. It will be further helpful to provide theoretical support and technical support for guiding the normative, green, safe, and sustainable development of the mining industry

Experimental investigation of granular dam-break flows and their rheological properties

Large scale events such as landslides, debris-flows, and industrial accidents like tailings dams failures are hard to predict, highly dangerous, and destructive. This research work aims to study similar granular flows with controlled laboratory experiments and numerical simulations. Monodisperse and well-graded granular materials were instantaneously released in a rectangular channel with varying degrees of initial saturation. Non-intrusive laboratory measurement techniques were developed to collect data from experiments at a high spatial and temporal resolution, including flow interfaces and velocity fields. The measured data were used to estimate constitutive model parameters. Experimental results show that the selection of the constitutive relationship depends on the initial flow conditions. Using the Material Point Method (MPM), it was shown that a simple Mohr-Coulomb model could reasonably represent the dry granular dam-break flows, but that a custom Mohr-Coulomb model taking strain softening into account was necessary to capture more complex flow features such as progressive and block failures that occurred during the experiments when the granular matrix was initially saturated. The calibration of such models is challenging as multiple factors come into play at the same time. The use of such models to simulate real life large scale events is still in its infancy and must be done carefully and be data driven. These challenges are laid out in this research study

The impact of food structure and promoting short chain fatty acids production on energy homeostasis and appetite regulation

The structural elements within a food, known as food structure, are thought to play a critical role in appetite regulation and energy homeostasis. Food structure can refer to the spatial arrangement of cellular structural elements, such as starch granules, or the physical form of a food. Manipulating the starch structure within a food system, such as in peas, can limit starch digestibility and thus improve the quality of the starch eaten. Bypassing upper gastrointestinal (GI) tract digestion can increase microbiota fermentation activity, which is responsible for the beneficial effects associated with resistant starch consumption. Short-chain fatty acids, fermentation by-products, have previously been reported to regulate glucose homeostasis, reduce energy intake and increase peripheral anorexigenic gut hormone concentrations in humans. A large part of this thesis aimed to investigate the acute effects of manipulating the starch structure within peas by inactivating the starch-branching enzyme of the pea seeds (SBE-deficient peas) on appetite regulation and energy homeostasis in humans. The first study presented in this thesis investigated the effect of food structure within peas on gastric emptying rates using a 13C breath test. The data suggest that manipulating the structure of the peas improves glycaemic response without affecting the gastric emptying rate. The second study presented in this thesis investigated the effect of upper GI digestion on different pea structures. SBE-deficient pea seeds were less available at the small intestinal level to be broken down into glucose. The third study presented in this thesis investigated the effects of lower gut fermentation on different pea structures. SBE-deficient pea seeds produced more short chain fatty acids (SCFAs) as a result of fermentation. However, these pea studies did not cause a change in subjective appetite or in appetite-regulating hormones. Propionate, one of the main SCFAs produced from microbial fermentation, is thought to play a crucial role in appetite regulation and energy homeostasis. Supplementation with inulin-propionate ester (IPE), which selectively enriches colonic propionate, has been reported to increase peripheral anorexigenic gut hormone concentrations and reduce energy intake acutely in humans. Long-term IPE supplementation prevented weight gain and reduced intra-hepatocellular lipid content. Another part of this thesis aimed to investigate the effects of colonic 4 propionate on appetite regulation and energy homeostasis in humans following a lower energy diet through IPE supplementation over a 12-week period. IPE reduced subjective appetite and led to significant weight loss compared to baseline. However, these effects were independent of changes in anorexigenic gut hormones. The majority of the work presented in this thesis supports a role of fermentation in energy and appetite homeostasis. However, the exact underlying mechanisms remain unclear.Open Acces

Design and Synthesis of Low Molecular Weight and Polymeric Surfactants for Enhanced Oil Recovery

Surfactants are defined as molecules able to lower the surface (or interfacial)tension at the gas/liquid, liquid/liquid, and liquid/solid interfaces. Due totheir properties, they are typically employed as detergents, emulsifiers, dispersants,wetting and foaming agents. In chemical enhanced oil recovery (cEOR), surfactantsare used as flooding agents, alone or in combination with polymers, alkali, and morerecently nanoparticles, to increase the microscopic displacement efficiency. Froma chemical point of view, surfactants are amphiphiles, meaning that they bear intheir structure both hydrophilic and hydrophobic moieties. Some naturally occurringsurfactants exists, but the majority are synthetic. The availability of syntheticsurfactants, allows a big variety of structures and properties. In this chapter, the mainclasses of surfactants will be reviewed, with focus on those used or proposed foruse for chemical enhanced oil recovery. After a general introduction about surfactantsand their main structural and physico-chemical properties, specific aspects ofdesign and synthesis will be discussed. Particular emphasis will be given to the mostrecent developments, which includes zwitterionic, gemini and polymeric surfactants.Own work of the author of this chapter in the field of polymeric surfactants will behighlighted

XVIII International Coal Preparation Congress

Changes in economic and market conditions of mineral raw materials in recent years have greatly increased demands on the ef fi ciency of mining production. This is certainly true of the coal industry. World coal consumption is growing faster than other types of fuel and in the past year it exceeded 7.6 billion tons. Coal extraction and processing technology are continuously evolving, becoming more economical and environmentally friendly. “ Clean coal ” technology is becoming increasingly popular. Coal chemistry, production of new materials and pharmacology are now added to the traditional use areas — power industry and metallurgy. The leading role in the development of new areas of coal use belongs to preparation technology and advanced coal processing. Hi-tech modern technology and the increasing interna- tional demand for its effectiveness and ef fi ciency put completely new goals for the University. Our main task is to develop a new generation of workforce capacity and research in line with global trends in the development of science and technology to address critical industry issues. Today Russia, like the rest of the world faces rapid and profound changes affecting all spheres of life. The de fi ning feature of modern era has been a rapid development of high technology, intellectual capital being its main asset and resource. The dynamics of scienti fi c and technological development requires acti- vation of University research activities. The University must be a generator of ideas to meet the needs of the economy and national development. Due to the high intellectual potential, University expert mission becomes more and more called for and is capable of providing professional assessment and building science-based predictions in various fi elds. Coal industry, as well as the whole fuel and energy sector of the global economy is growing fast. Global multinational energy companies are less likely to be under state in fl uence and will soon become the main mechanism for the rapid spread of technologies based on new knowledge. Mineral resources will have an even greater impact on the stability of the economies of many countries. Current progress in the technology of coal-based gas synthesis is not just a change in the traditional energy markets, but the emergence of new products of direct consumption, obtained from coal, such as synthetic fuels, chemicals and agrochemical products. All this requires a revision of the value of coal in the modern world economy

Designed and Developed Delivery Systems Containing Extracted Astaxanthin from Crawfish, Procambarus clarkii, Using a Novel Combined Ethanol Flaxseed Oil Ultrasound Assisted Closed Extraction System and Its Anticancer Activity in Vitro

Crustacean processing in Louisiana generates vast amounts of byproducts, including crawfish processing byproducts (CB), whose disposal can be problematic unless utilized alternatively. The objective of this investigation was to design and develop a delivery system (DS) containing extracted astaxanthin (AX) from CB using a novel combined ethanol flaxseed oil (FO) ultrasound-assisted extraction (UAE) method and evaluate its quality characteristics. Additionally, anticancer effects of AX were evaluated. Investigations consisted of three studies. Proximate composition, oxidative stability, and antioxidant capacity of AX from CB extracted both conventionally and by UAE was determined. AX concentration conventionally extracted from CB (FOCAX) was 0.0919 mg g−1 of FO. The combined UAE ethanol FO extracted AX from CB (FOCAXUAE) was 1.9 mg g−1 of FO with antioxidant capacity (71.81±0.42) significantly greater than FOCAX (63.16±0.22). FOCAXUAE was selected for use in further studies. A pectin gelatin DSs (PGDS) for controlled release of extracted AX was developed. Releasing profiles of several formulations containing high degrees of methylation (HMP) or low degrees of methylation (LMP) pectins were evaluated. The in vitro release study investigated release of AX in simulated gastric fluid (SGF) and simulated intestinal fluid (SIF). However, desired release characteristics were obtained with the addition of hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC). Swelling index of both HMP and LMP formulations with HPMC in SIF after 180 minutes were 126.46% and 90.61%, respectively. Other formulations failed to swell in SIF, with exposure to low pH SGF resulting in all formulations rapidly releasing FOCAXUAE. Anticancer properties were considered. A control (sunflower lecithin and FO in DMEM, Dulbecco’s modified Eagles medium) in the ratio (0.0025:0.005:1) on the viability of MDA-MB-231 cell lines showed RCV (relative cell viability) of 79.37±0.87 % (RCV of 97.37±0.06%, normalized to DMEM alone). RCV of MDA-MB-231 cells treated with AX (3µM, 5µM, and 7 µM) had significantly decreased (46.31±0.81%, 42.2±0.65%, and 55.51±0.19%, respectively). Cell densities decreased in some groups treated with AX, showing fewer cells with mesenchymal-like shapes, suggesting reversal of the epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT). This research indicates high amounts of AX extracted from CB by UAE has cytotoxic activity that could be incorporated into polymer-based DS