Water spray is the most widely used means of wet dust reduction, and its atomization parameters are directly related to the effect of dust reduction. In order to obtain the atomization properties of solid-cone spray for dust reduction, the paper used droplet velocity and particle size to characterize its atomization characteristics. The Phase Doppler Particle Analyzer (PDPA) was used to precisely measure droplet sizes and velocities of a solid-cone spray at distances of 15 cm, 25 cm and 45 cm horizontally from the nozzle outlet, using low and medium spray pressures. The results show that the droplet size was fluctuant before spray pressure increasing to 2.0 MPa and then decreased gradually with the increasing of spray pressure. The droplet velocity increased with the raising spray pressure and the velocity at 45 cm is the minimum. The droplet size measurements taken 45 cm from the nozzle exhibited more complex slope changes in particle size curve that were not existed at the closer distances spray of 15 cm or 25 cm, which implies that the near-field spray is more stable than far-field spray. This study is of important significance for further understanding the characteristics of solid-cone spray and guiding its application in dust reduction. (C) 2019 The Society of Powder Technology Japan. Published by Elsevier B.V. and The Society of Powder Technology Japan. All rights reserved.