Foam is used as part of an effective dust suppression method in underground coal mines, but conventional foaming devices severely restrict its popularization and application due to the high cost of foam preparation, poor applicability and high pressure loss. Therefore, a new spiral mesh foam generator is designed, and its performance is investigated and evaluated experimentally. The results show that the pressure gradient of the spiral mesh foam generator increases with the increase of foam concentration in water. There is a large pressure gradient gap between the top and bottom at both ends of the foam generator. However, the gap disappears and uniform foam is generated in the middle section of the foam generator. When the pressure gradient is higher than minimum pressure gradient, the foam production quantity will increase sharply. Based on the length of spiral mesh and operating conditions determined, the new foam generator is applied to produce foam for dust suppression in the heading face of coal mines. A good foaming effect, less pressure loss and high dust suppression efficiency suggest that the new foam generator will greatly promote the large-scale application of foam technology used to suppress dust in underground coal mines. (C) 2014 The Institution of Chemical Engineers. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.