The Impact of the Coexistence of Methane Hazard and Rock-Bursts on the Safety of Works in Underground Hard Coal Mines

Justyna Swolkień and Nikodem Szlązak
Additional contact information
Justyna Swolkień: Faculty of Mining and Geoengineering, AGH University of Science and Technology Kraków, 30-059 Kraków, Poland
Nikodem Szlązak: Faculty of Mining and Geoengineering, AGH University of Science and Technology Kraków, 30-059 Kraków, Poland

Energies, 2020, vol. 14, issue 1, 1-16

Abstract: Several natural threats characterize hard coal mining in Poland. The coexistence of methane and rock-burst hazards lowers the safety level during exploration. The most dangerous are high-energy bumps, which might cause rock-burst. Additionally, created during exploitation, safety pillars, which protect openings, might be the reason for the formation of so-called gas traps. In this part, rock mass is usually not disturbed and methane in seams that form the safety pillars is not dangerous as long as they remain intact. Nevertheless, during a rock-burst, a sudden methane outflow can occur. Preventing the existing hazards increases mining costs, and employing inadequate measures threatens the employees’ lives and limbs. Using two longwalls as examples, the authors discuss the consequences of the two natural hazards’ coexistence. In the area of longwall H-4 in seam 409/4, a rock-burst caused a release of approximately 545,000 cubic meters of methane into the excavations, which tripled methane concentration compared to the values from the period preceding the burst. In the second longwall (IV in seam 703/1), a bump was followed by a rock-burst, which reduced the amount of air flowing through the excavation by 30 percent compared to the airflow before, and methane release rose by 60 percent. The analyses presented in this article justify that research is needed to create and implement innovative methods of methane drainage from coal seams to capture methane more effectively at the stage of mining.

Keywords: methane hazard; rock-burst; the safety of exploration (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/14/1/128/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/14/1/128/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jeners:v:14:y:2020:i:1:p:128-:d:469750

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().