# Suppression Effect of Waterborne Polymer on Soil Used for Backfilling at Construction Site
## 1 Introduction  
Growing urbanization has led to significant dust generation at construction sites, adversely affecting the air quality and workers' health. Particulate matter \(\leq\)10 \(\mu\)m in aerodynamic diameter (PM\({}_{10}\)) can enter the nasopharynx, and particulate matter \(\leq\)2.5 \(\mu\)m in aerodynamic diameter (PM\({}_{2.5}\)) can infiltrate deep into the alveolar areas of the human lungs [1]. At 27 \({}^{\circ}\)C, 73% relative humidity (RH), and 1.0 m/s wind speed, the average daily PM\({}_{10}\) concentration at construction sites can be as high as 270.70 \(\mu\)g/m\({}^{3}\)[2]. The contribution rate of construction sites to the PM\({}_{10}\) concentration in urban ambient air is more than 10%. In 2015, the concentrations of PM\({}_{10}\) and PM\({}_{2.5}\) at national control monitoring points affected by construction sites in Beijing reached 17.5 \(\mu\)g/m\({}^{3}\) and 6.2 \(\mu\)g/m\({}^{3}\), contributing 17.2% and 7.8% [3], respectively, to the total air pollution of the city. Water spraying is a common measure for dust suppression, yet it is inefficient and hard to provide longstanding dust suppression due to the easy moisture evaporation on watered pavements in open and dry environments [4]. The dust suppression effect can be significantly improved by adding dust supressants into the spraying water [5, 6, 7]. Traditional chemical dust suppressants mainly include wetting, condensed, and bonding chemical dust suppressants [8]. Condensed chemical dust suppressants, such as sodium chloride and calcium chloride, can postpone moisture evaporation and increase density by wet-dust suppression, retaining moisture in powder particles for a longer time [9, 10, 11]; nevertheless, they can severely harm plant growth. Organic polymers, such as polyvinyl alcohol, can bond and seal powder to improve its stability by dry dust suppression [12, 13], but there is still room for improvement in moisture retention. Traditional dust suppressants can mainly be used for a single purpose and exhibit poor comprehensive performance, while some may cause detrimental environmental effects. Therefore, developing multifunctional, environmentally friendly dust suppressants hasattracted extensive research attention [14; 15; 16]. [PERSON] [17] extracted carboxymethyl cellulose from waste paper and prepared a dust suppressant by reacting it with polyvinyl alcohol and N-vinylpyrrolidone. The suppressant crusted on the surface of pulverized coal and improved the wetting effect of water. [PERSON] [18] prepared a multifunctional, environmentally friendly dust suppressant with a semi-interpenetrating network structure, providing the wetting, moisture retention, and consolidation of pulverized coal. [PERSON] [19] synthesized an Enteromorpha-based dust suppressant exhibiting satisfactory permeability to pulverized coal and reaching a compressive strength of consolidated coal dust of 122.6 kPa. [PERSON] [20] developed a compound fluid dust suppressant of starch and organobentonite possessing good biodegradability and dust suppression effects. Recently, dust has been consolidated through enzyme-induced carbonate precipitation. [PERSON] [21] and [PERSON] [22] both used unease to decompose urea to generate carbon dioxide, which then reacted with calcium chloride, penetrating the pulverized coal to form calcium carbonate crystals, consolidating a large amount of pulverized coal, and improving its resistance to wind erosion. These research studies have greatly expanded the functions of dust suppressants. However, the employed preparation methods of dust suppressants are complex, causing high costs and limiting their large-scale applications. Moreover, the lack of a systematic performance evaluation method affects the application field [23]. Waterborne acrylate polymers are widely used in the coating and adhesive industries due to large availability, low cost, and no pollution effects [24]. Additionally, acrylic acid (AA) is one of the main monomers used to prepare water-absorbent resins.