A statistical analysis of coal mine accidents caused by coal dust explosions in China

Dust explosions: A threat to the process industries

“…High dependence on coal for energy consumption is one of the main causes of dust explosions in China. As Zheng et al (2009) argue, the percentage of coal in total energy consumption is higher than 70% in China. Furthermore, from BP Statistical Review of World Energy (British Petroleum, 2013), coal production and consumption in China account for 47.5% and 50.2% of the world's coal production and consumption, respectively, in 2012.…”

“…A similar situation can also be found in other areas, such as wood and wood product manufacturing, electricity supply, and chemicals and chemical product manufacturing. However, in coal mining, as explosion accidents frequently occur during blasting operations, hot work is the most frequent ignition source, especially in China (Zheng et al, 2009). In warehouses, with the heat coming from exothermic reactions, the temperatures could increase beyond the threshold of self-ignition when warehouses have no, or malfunctioning, suitable temperature control systems.…”

“…Similarly, data for accidental dust explosions in China from 1980 to 2011 have been collected by Yan and Yu (2012). Zheng et al (2009) collected 106 dust explosion cases in Chinese coal mines from 1949 to 2007, and analyzed characteristics of Chinese coal dust explosions. Abbasi and Abbasi (2007) gathered some cases in 2004 and made an attempt to investigate the causes, consequences, and prevention methods of dust explosions.…”

Development of a Respirable Dust Mitigation System for a High Longwall Face at Sihe Colliery in China – a Case Study

“…The dust concentration distribution in the vicinity of the shearer and the BSL is illustrated in Figure 13. It can be seen from Figure 13 that the dust concentration around the shearer scrubber and downstream from it can be reduced greatly from more than 500 mg/m 3 to around 200 mg/m 3 . The dust concentration in the walkway is also reduced slightly.…”

“…and more than 105 thousand coal miners were diagnosed with pneumoconiosis from the year 2009 to 2013 [3][4]. To mitigate these risks, maximum allowable limits have been set for dust concentrations in working places in underground coal mines by various governments.…”