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%0 Thesis %A Sieger, Johannes Lukas %T Biopolymere als Staubbindemittel auf Brachflächen des Bergbaus: Ergebnisse aus Labor- und Feldversuchen %I Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule Aachen %V Dissertation %C Aachen %M RWTH-2024-01383 %P 1 Online-Ressource : Illustrationen %D 2024 %Z Veröffentlicht auf dem Publikationsserver der RWTH Aachen University %Z Dissertation, Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule Aachen, 2024 %X Wind-induced dust emissions from active and abandoned mines pose a significant threat to local ecosystems and workers’ health, and affect surrounding communities. They are generated from large, exposed, barren areas, such as tailings dams, dumps, or working benches, and remain challenging to control. This issue will become increasingly important as the footprint of mines and the frequency and severity of droughts and strong wind events are predicted to increase. Using dust suppressants, such as water, salt brines, or petroleum-based and synthetic polymers, is a proven method for dust control on exposed surfaces. However, while the effect of water evaporates quickly, traditional dust suppressants are costly, can have adverse environmental effects, and are not bio-based. As the mining industry is simultaneously challenged to minimise its environmental impacts and meet growing societal expectations, there is a need for low cost, easy to use, readily available, bio-based, and environmentally friendly dust suppressants.Recently, scholars have explored the potential of using biopolymers to stabilise soils or control dust emissions. Biopolymers are produced by plants, animals, or microorganisms (e.g., starches, cellulose, gelatine, or xanthan gum). However, the potential of diverse polysaccharides and proteins from sources native to continental climates remains under-explored, and their effectiveness to control wind-induced dust emissions has not yet been tested in large-scale field trials. This work addressed these gaps and aimed to answer the Main Research Question: “What is the potential of polysaccharide and protein biopolymers as dust suppressants for dust control on barren, undisturbed mine soils?” Therefore, the research of this thesis was divided into three consecutive study phases, the results of which have been published in three corresponding research articles: A Laboratory Screening Study (Article I), a Laboratory Wind Tunnel Study (Article II), and Large-Scale Field Trials (Article III).The Laboratory Screening Study (Article I, p. 15ff.) evaluated the soil agglomeration potential of 14 selected proteins and polysaccharides from diverse botanical and animal sources on two different mine soils. Soil samples were prepared by spray-on application, and the treated samples’ moisture retention, penetration resistance, and crust thickness were investigated. It was found that all biopolymers agglomerated particles and formed crusts of varying thickness, with significantly increased penetration resistances and partially improved moisture retention. Biopolymer type and concentration significantly affected the parameters tested, whereby most proteins required application at higher concentrations to perform similarly to the polysaccharides. The study demonstrated that various biopolymer types display the potential to act as dust suppressants and allowed for the selection of the most promising biopolymers to be studied in the subsequent study phase.After evaluating the potential of biopolymers based on indirect parameters in Article I, the Laboratory Wind Tunnel Study (Article II, p. 41ff.) directly examined the wind erosion resistance of soil samples treated with different biopolymers, concentrations, and application rates. Complementary pocket penetrometer testing was conducted to investigate whether a correlation between wind erosion and penetration resistance exists. The results showed that all biopolymer treatmentssignificantly improved the wind erosion resistance of the samples, partially achieving dust control effectiveness >99 %F PUB:(DE-HGF)11 %9 Dissertation / PhD Thesis %R 10.18154/RWTH-2024-01383 %U https://publications.rwth-aachen.de/record/978919