Evaluation of endogenous fire precautions in coal mines

Mineral mining features high risk of accidents due to various hazards. The most often accident in coal mines in Russia is fire. The highest economic damage is caused to coal mines by endogenous fires from spontaneous combustion of coal. For increasing safety and economic efficiency, it is required to prevent spontaneous combustion of coal in mines. The estimate of the current approaches to spontaneous coal combustion prevention shows that antipyrogenous water solutions reduce oxygen absorption by coal by 1.6–2.0 times, which extends incubation period of spontaneous combustion by 2.0–2.4 times. For another thing, self-ignition of coal can considerably be slowed down by the decrease in the oxygen concentration in mine air. For example, the decrease in the oxygen concentration to 5 % by feeding inert gas extends the ignition period of spontaneous combustion by 4 times. Less influence on self-ignition of coal is exerted by coal moisture and initial temperature. For instance, cooling by 100 degrees increases the incubation period by 1.7 times, while rise in coal moisture from 5 to 10%—merely by 1.4 times.

Portola V. A., Ovchinnikov A. E., Zhdanov A. N. Evaluation of endogenous fire precautions in coal mines. MIAB. Mining Inf. Anal. Bull. 2019;(12):205-214. [In Russ]. DOI: 10.25018/0236-14932019-12-0-205-214.

V.A. Portola, Dr. Sci. (Eng.), Professor, e-mail: portola2@yandex.ru,
T. Gorbachev Kuzbass State Technical University, 650000, Kemerovo, Russia,
A.E. Ovchinnikov¹, Chief Engineer, Komsomolets mine,
A.N. Zhdanov¹, Deputy Head of Technical Department,
¹ SUEK-Kuzbass JSC, 652507, Leninsk-Kuznetskiy, Russia.

V.A. Portola, e-mail: portola2@yandex.ru.

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