Application of Hydro Borehole Mining (HBM) Technology for Lignite Extraction—An Environmental Assessment (LCA) and a Comparative Study with the Opencast Method

Marcin Maksymowicz, Aleksander Frejowski, Adam Bajcar and Bartłomiej Jura
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Marcin Maksymowicz: “Poltegor-Institute” Opencast Mining Institute, Parkowa 25, 51-616 Wroclaw, Poland
Aleksander Frejowski: Department of Extraction Technologies, Rockburst and Risk Assessment, Central Mining Institute, Plac Gwarków 1, 40-166 Katowice, Poland
Adam Bajcar: “Poltegor-Institute” Opencast Mining Institute, Parkowa 25, 51-616 Wroclaw, Poland
Bartłomiej Jura: Department of Mining Aerology, Central Mining Institute, Plac Gwarków 1, 40-166 Katowice, Poland

Energies, 2022, vol. 15, issue 13, 1-20

Abstract: The article presents the impact of lignite mining on the environment associated with the introduction of hydro borehole mining (HBM) technology. The results are partially based on the HydroCoal Plus project results, where an environmental assessment of lignite HBM technology was performed. In order to reach the goals of the task, a life cycle assessment (LCA) study was used to assess selected environmental aspects of the HBM single-borehole lignite production process covering selected environmental impact categories such as energy consumption, fuel consumption, water consumption and carbon footprint. The LCA procedure was adapted in an innovative way, constituting another added value to the shown research. The second part of this paper describes opportunities identified by the authors to minimize the environmental impact of lignite production by implementing the HBM method compared to the conventional opencast method.

Keywords: hydro borehole mining (HBM); life cycle assessment (LCA); environmental assessment; lignite mining (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: 2022
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