Recommendations for methane prognostics and adjustment of short-term prevention measures based on methane hazard levels in coal mine longwalls

Abstract

The article describes the recommended procedure for conducting methane forecasts and selection of the methane prevention measures that adequately reflect the level of risk of methane combustion and explosion. The appropriate selection of measures to prevent methane exposure can be effective at mitigating the exposure risk of the miners and other mine employees. Implementation of these measures can have the additional benefit of increasing mine output and efficiency. For example, prediction of methane concentrations can reduce the instances of unplanned equipment downtime to maintain mine safety and integrity. The presented procedure is the culmination of extensive research on three predictive models of short-term average methane concentrations. Identifying the advantages and disadvantages of the models became possible by verifying the models against a nearly 500-day dataset obtained from 7 longwalls with identified significant methane content. Furthermore, selected studies were presented based on one of the datasets obtained from the U-ventilated longwall.

Analysis of Forecasted Methane Concentration at the Top Gate of a Wall Ventilated by Means of the “U” System. Case Study

“…In the paper [24], a set of model parameters for one-day forecasts of methane concentration at the outlet of the roadway of the discharge air exhausted from a longwall was developed. The research on the application of these models to forecast the average methane concentration at the outlets of the longwall ventilation roadways confirmed their satisfactory accuracy [25,26]. This article presents an attempt of the use of these models to forecast the average and maximum concentration of methane in the roadway of the discharge air from a longwall, where the methane concentration sensor is placed, up to 10 m in front of the wall face and at the outlet of the roadway.…”

Influence of the Auxiliary Air-Duct Outlet and the Brattice Location on the Methane Hazard—Numerical Simulations

“…The methane hazard is common during the exploitation of energy resources. At the same time, taking into account the flammable and explosive properties of methane, this threat should be considered as one of the most important [1][2][3][4][5][6]. The uncontrolled increase in methane concentration in the workspace may lead to loss-generating downtime or to events that threaten the health and life of employees in the area where it occurs.…”