Disasters of gas-coal spontaneous combustion in goaf of steeply inclined extra-thick coal seams

In light of the escalating global energy imperatives,mining of challenging-to-access resources,such as steeply inclined extra-thick coal seams(SIEC),has emerged as one of the future trends within the domain of energy advancement.However,there is a risk of gas and coal spontaneous combustion coupling disasters(GCC)within the goaf of SIEC due to the complex goaf structure engendered by the unique mining methodologies of SIEC.To ensure that SIEC is mined safely and efficiently,this study conducts research on the GCC within the goaf of SIEC using field observation,theoretical analysis,and numerical modeling.The results demonstrate that the dip angle,the structural dimensions in terms of width-to-length ratio,and compressive strength of the overlying rock are the key factors contributing to the goaf instability of SIEC.The gangue was asymmetrically filled,primarily accumulating within the central and lower portions of the goaf,and the filling height increased proportionally with the advancing caving height,the expansion coefficient,and the thickness of the surrounding rock formation.The GCC occurs in the goaf of SIEC,with an air-return side range of 41 m and an air-intake side range of 14 m,at the intersection area of the“<”-shaped oxygen concentration distribution(coal spontaneous combustion)and the“>”-shaped gas concentration distribution(gas explosion).The optimal nitrogen flow rate is 1000 m3/h with an injection port situated 25 m away from the working face for the highest nitrogen diffusion efficacy and lowest risk of gas explosion,coal spontaneous combustion,and GCC.It has significant engineering applications for ensuring the safe mining of SIEC threatened by the GCC.

Gas seepage equation of deep mined coal seams and its application

In order to obtain a gas seepage law of deep mined coal seams, according to the properties of coalbed methane seepage in in-situ stress and geothermal temperature fields, the gas seepage equation of deep mined coal seams with the Klinkenberg effect was obtained by confirming the coatbed methane permeability in in-situ stress and geothermal temperature fields. Aimed at the condition in which the coal seams have or do not have an outcrop and outlet on the ground, the application of the gas seepage equation of deep mined coal seams in in-situ stress and geothermal temperature fields on the gas pressure calculation of deep mined coal seams was investigated. The comparison between calculated and measured results indicates that the calculation method of gas pressure, based on the gas seepage equation of deep mined coal seams in in-situ stress and geothermal temperature fields can accu- rately be identical with the measured values and theoretically perfect the calculation method of gas pressure of deep mined coal seams.

Pressure relief, gas drainage and deformation effects on an overlying coal seam induced by drilling an extra-thin protective coal seam

Numerical simulations and field tests were used to investigate the changes in ground stress and deformation of, and gas flow from, a protected coal seam under which an extra-thin coal seam was drilled. The geological conditions were: 0.5 meter mining height, 18.5 meter coal seam spacing and a hard limestone/fine sandstone inter-stratum. For these conditions we conclude: 1) the overlying coal-rock mass bends and sinks without the appearance of a caving zone, and 2) the protected coal seam is in the bending zone and undergoes expansion deformation in the stress-relaxed area. The deformation was 12 mm and the relative defor- mation was 0.15%. As mining proceeds, deformation in the protected layer begins as compression, then becomes a rapid expansion and, finally, reaches a stable value. A large number of bed separation crannies are created in the stress-relaxed area and the permeability coefficient of the coal seam was increased 403 fold. Grid penetration boreholes were evenly drilled toward the protected coal seam to affect pressure relief and gas drainage. This made the gas pressure decrease from 0.75 to 0.15 MPa, the gas content decrease from 13 to 4.66 m3/t and the gas drainage reach 64%.

A rapid and accurate direct measurement method of underground coal seam gas content based on dynamic diffusion theory

Coal seam gas content is frequently measured in quantity during underground coal mining operation and coalbed methane(CBM)exploration as a significant basic parameter.Due to the calculation error of lost gas and residual gas in the direct method,the efficiency and accuracy of the current methods are not inadequate to the large area multi-point measurement of coal seam gas content.This paper firstly deduces a simplified theoretical dynamic model for calculating lost gas based on gas dynamic diffusion theory.Secondly,the effects of various factors on gas dynamic diffusion from coal particle are experimentally studied.And sampling procedure of representative coal particle is improved.Thirdly,a new estimation method of residual gas content based on excess adsorption and competitive adsorption theory is proposed.The results showed that the maximum error of calculating the losing gas content by using the new simplified model is only 4%.Considering the influence of particle size on gas diffusion law,the particle size of the collected coal sample is below 0.25 mm,which improves the measurement speed and reflects the safety representativeness of the sample.The determination time of gas content reduced from 36 to 3 h/piece.Moreover,the absolute error is 0.15–0.50 m^3/t,and the relative error is within 5%.A new engineering method for determining the coal seam gas content is developed according to the above research.

Theory of gas extraction from coal seams and its use

Gas extraction is one of the main measures of control and use of gas of coal mines. At present, the design method is under the experimental period and do not satisfy the need of practice. In this paper, the theory of gas extraction of coal seams based upon Darcy law was studied. Mathematical model of gas extraction of coal seams was established and two kinds of solv- ing approaches based on computer software and linear approximation were given. The rightness and the validities of the model were examined with a practical example. Results obtained can be used to determine and optimize the parameters related etc.

Prediction and control of rock burst of coal seam contacting gas in deep mining

By analyzing the characteristics and the production mechanism of rock burstthat goes with abnormal gas emission in deep coal seams,the essential method of eliminatingabnormal gas emission by eliminating the occurrence of rock burst or depressingthe magnitude of rock burst was considered.The No.237 working face was selected asthe typical working face contacting gas in deep mining;aimed at this working face,a systemof rock burst prediction and control for coal seam contacting gas in deep mining wasestablished.This system includes three parts:① regional prediction of rock burst hazardbefore mining,② local prediction of rock burst hazard during mining,and ③ rock burstcontrol.

Strength criterion effect of the translator and destabilization model of gas-bearing coal seam

Coal seam destabilization inflicts damage to equipment, causes property loss and personnel casualties,and severely threatens mining safety and efficient production. To further understand this destabilization based on the basic theory of Lippmann seam destabilization, a mathematical model was introduced for gas pressure distribution by considering intermediate principal stress and support resistance.Subsequently, we established a translation model suitable for the entire roadway coal seam with rocky roof and floor by applying the unified form of yield criterion in the state of plane strain. We also obtained the analytic expressions of coal seam stress distribution on both sides of the roadway and the widths of plastic and disturbance zones. Afterward, we analyzed several typical cases with different material yield criteria, obtained the plastic zone widths of the coal seam under different gas pressures, and assessed the effects of support resistance, roadway size, and coal strength on coal seam destabilization. Results showed that: the results obtained on the basis of Wilson and Mohr–Coulomb criteria are considerably conservative, and the use of Druker–Prager criteria to evaluate the rockburst-induced coal seam destabilization is safer than the use of the two other criteria; coal seam stability is correlated with gas pressure;and high-pressure gas accelerates the coal seam destabilization.

Application of deep borehole blasting on fully mechanized hard top-coal pre-splitting and gas extraction in the special thick seam

In order to solve the problems of top-coal inadequate destruction and large amounts of gas emission in mining extra thick and hard coal seam,this study investigated the pre-splitting for deep borehole blasting and gas pre-draining technologies on top coal.The mechanism of the technologies was systematically expounded based on hard top-coal cracks development obtained by numerical simulation and theoretical analysis.The results show that explosive blasting in the hard rock results in a large number of cracks and large displacement in the rock mass due to the effect of explosion stress.Meanwhile,the thick top-coal caves,and desorbing gas flows along the cracks improve gas extraction.Finally,the pre-splitting for deep borehole blasting and gas pre-draining technologies was applied in No.3802 working face of Shui Liandong Coal Mine,which increases monthly output in the face to 67.34 kt and the drained gas concentration to 86.2%.The drained gas average concentration from each borehole reaches 40%,and the effect is remarkable.

Technique of coal mining and gas extraction without coal pillar in multi-seam with low permeability

Aimed at the low mining efficiency in deep multi-seams because of high crustalstress,high gas content,low permeability,the compound 'three soft' roof and the trouble-somesafety situation encountered in deep level coal exploitation,proposed a new idea ofgob-side retaining without a coal-pillar and Y-style ventilation in the first-mined key pressure-relieved coal seam and a new method of coal mining and gas extraction.The followingwere discovered:the dynamic evolution law of the crannies in the roof is influenced bymining,the formative rule of 'the vertical cranny-abundant area' along the gob-side,thedistribution of air pressure field in the gob,and the flowing rule of pressure-relieved gas ina Y-style ventilation system.The study also established a theoretic basis for a new miningmethod of coal mining and gas extraction which is used to extract the pressure-relievedgas by roadway retaining boreholes instead of roadway boreholes.Studied and resolvedmany difficult key problems,such as,fast roadway retaining at the gob-side without a coalpillar,Y-style ventilation and extraction of pressure-relieved gas by roadway retainingboreholes,and so on.The study innovated and integrated a whole set of technical systemsfor coal and pressure relief gas extraction.The method of the pressure-relieved gasextraction by roadway retaining had been successfully applied in 6 typical working faces inthe Huainan and Huaibei mining areas.The research can provide a scientific and reliabletechnical support and a demonstration for coal mining and gas extraction in gaseous deepmulti-seams with low permeability.

Effect of protective coal seam mining and gas extraction on gas transport in a coal seam

A gas–solid coupling model involving coal seam deformation,gas diffusion and seepage,gas adsorption and desorption was built to study the gas transport rule under the effect of protective coal seam mining.The research results indicate:(1) The depressurization effect changes the stress state of an overlying coal seam and causes its permeability to increase,thus gas in the protected coal seam will be desorbed and transported under the effect of a gas pressure gradient,which will cause a decrease in gas pressure.(2) Gas pressure can be further decreased by setting out gas extraction boreholes in the overlying coal seam,which can effectively reduce the coal and gas outburst risk.The research is of important engineering significance for studying the gas transport rule in protected coal seam and providing important reference for controlling coal and gas outbursts in deep mining in China.

Influence of Ground Stress on Coal Seam Gas Pressure and Gas Content

The influence of ground stress was quantitatively analyzed on coal seam gas pressure and gas content in this paper.Mining activities in coal mine can result in stress concentration in the coal(rock)body around the mining space,but porosity of the coal seam would not change too much.Therefore,gas pressure and gas content in the coal seam are slightly affected.Studies showed that the free gas was gradually transformed into adsorbed gas,and the gas adsorption volume was small,and then gas pressure increases roughly linearly when the porosity decreased because of stress influence.Additionaly,when porosity of coal seam reduced to 40%,the amount of adsorbed gas accounted for no more than 10%of coal seam gas content,and the increase of gas pressure did not exceed 15%of the original gas pressure.

Research into comprehensive gas extraction technology of single coal seams with low permeability in the Jiaozuo coal mining area

For a low permeability single coal seam prone to gas outbursts, pre-drainage of gas is difficult and inefficient, seriously restricting the safety and efficiency of production. Radical measures of increasing gas extraction efficiency are pressure relief and infrared antireflection. We have analyzed the effect of mining conditions and the regularity of mine pressure distribution in front of the working face of a major coal mine of the Jiaozuo Industrial （Group） Co. as our test area, studied the width of the depressurization zone in slice mining and analyzed gas efficiency and fast drainage in the advanced stress relaxation zone. On that basis, we further investigated and practiced the exploitation technology of shallow drilling, fan dril- ling and grid shape drilling at the working face. Practice and our results show that the stress relaxation zone is the ideal region for quick and efficient extraction of gas. By means of an integrated extraction technology, the amount of gas emitted into the zone was greatly reduced, while the risk of dangerous outbursts of coal and gas was lowered markedly. This exploration provides a new way to control for gas in working faces of coal mines with low permeability and risk of gas outbursts of single coal seams in the Jiaozuo mining area.

In-situ gas contents of a multi-section coal seam in Sydney basin for coal and gas outburst management

The gas content is crucial for evaluating coal and gas outburst potential in underground coal mining. This study focuses on investigating the in-situ coal seam gas content and gas sorption capacity in a representative coal seam with multiple sections (A1, A2, and A3) in the Sydney basin, where the CO_(2) composition exceeds 90%. The fast direct desorption method and associated devices were described in detail and employed to measure the in-situ gas components (Q_(1), Q_(2), and Q_(3)) of the coal seam. The results show that in-situ total gas content (Q_(T)) ranges from 9.48 m^(3)/t for the A2 section to 14.80 m^(3)/t for the A3 section, surpassing the Level 2 outburst threshold limit value, thereby necessitating gas drainage measures. Among the gas components, Q_(2) demonstrates the highest contribution to Q_(T), ranging between 55% and 70%. Furthermore, high-pressure isothermal gas sorption experiments were conducted on coal samples from each seam section to explore their gas sorption capacity. The Langmuir model accurately characterizes CO_(2) sorption behavior, with ft coefcients (R^(2)) greater than 0.99. Strong positive correlations are observed between in-situ gas content and Langmuir volume, as well as between residual gas content (Q_(3)) and sorption hysteresis. Notably, the A3 seam section is proved to have a higher outburst propensity due to its higher Q_(1) and Q_(2) gas contents, lower sorption hysteresis, and reduced coal toughness f value. The insights derived from the study can contribute to the development of efective gas management strategies and enhance the safety and efciency of coal mining operations.

Calculation of gas content in coal seam influenced by in-situ stress grads and ground temperature

On the basis of the analysis of coal bed gas pressure in deep mine, and the coal bed permeability ( k ) and the characteristic of adsorption parameter ( b ) changing with temperature, the author puts forward a new calculating method of gas content in coal seam influenced by in situ stress grads and ground temperature. At the same time, the contrast of the measuring results of coal bed gas pressure with the computing results of coal bed gas pressure and gas content in coal seam in theory indicate that the computing method can well reflect the authenticity of gas content in coal seam,and will further perfect the computing method of gas content in coal seam in theory,and have important value in theory on analyzing gas content in coal seam and forecasting distribution law of gas content in coal seam in deep mine.

Gas drainage technology of high gas and thick coal seam

Gas drainage in Jincheng Mining Group Co.,Ltd.was introduced briefly and theimportance of gas drainage in gas control was analyzed.Combined with coal-bed gas occurrenceand gas emission,the double system of gas drainage was optimized and a progressivegas drainage model was experimented on.For guaranteed drainage,excavationand mining and realization of safety production and reasonable exploitation of gas in coalseams,many drainage methods were adopted to solve the gas problem of the workingface.

Energy return on investment, energy payback time, and greenhouse gas emissions of coal seam gas(CSG) production in China: a case of the Fanzhuang CSG project

The studies and development of coal seam gas（CSG） have been conducted for more than 30 years in China, but few of China＇s CSG projects have achieved large-scale commercial success; faced with the boom of shale gas, some investors are beginning to lose patience and confidence in CSG. China currently faces the following question： Should the government continue to vigorously support the development of the CSG industry？ To provide a reference for policy makers and investors, this paper calculates the EROI_（stnd）[a standardized energy return on investment（EROI） method], EROI_（ide）（the maximum theoretical EROI）, EROI_（3,i）（EROI considering the energy investment in transport）, and EROI_（3,1＋e）（EROI with environmental inputs） of a single vertical CSG well in the Fanzhuang CSG project in the Qinshui Basin. The energy payback time（EPT） and the greenhouse gas（GHG） emissions of the CSG systems are also calculated. The results show that over a 15-year lifetime, EROI_（stnd）, EROI_（ide）, EROI_（3,1）, and EROI_（3,1＋e）are expected to deliver EROIs of approximately11：1, 20：1, 7：1, and 6：1, respectively. The EPT within different boundaries is no more than 2 years, and the life-cycle GHG emissions are approximately 18.8 million kg CO_2 equivalent. The relatively high EROI and short EPT indicate that the government should take more positive measures to promote the development of the CSG industry.

Girth welding procedure and weldability evaluation of coal seam gas transmission UOE pipeline

According to the requirements of Queensland Gas Company Ltd. （QGC）, the operator of the Queensland Curtis LNG （QCLNG） pipeline project in Australia, girth welding experiments and weldability evaluations have been carded out for three X70 UOE pipes from Baosteel based on API 1104 standards. Shielded metal arc welding （SMAW） and gas- shielded flux-cored wire arc welding （FCAW-G） have been applied, and the girth weld joint quality and mechanical performance were evaluated. It was found that the field girth weldability of Baosteel＇ s XT0 UOE pipes was excellent under the conditions used here and satisfied the requirements of the QCLNG project for field girth welding construction. Furthermore,Baosteel has offered a solution to the QCLNG project for pipeline girth welding in which the girth welding joint design, selection of welding processes and consumables, welding procedures, techniques and joint inspections are included. Such research provides important guidance for the difficult tie-in welding applications for the construction of the QCLNG pipelines in the field.

Mathematical modeling for coupled solid elastic-deformation and gas leak flow in multi-coal-seams

Based on the new viewpoint of solid and gas interaction mechanics, gas leakage in a double deformable coal seam can be understood. That is, under the action of geophysical fields, the methane flow in a double deformable coal seam can be essentially considered to be compressible with time dependent and mixed permeation and diffusion through a pore cleat deformable heterogeneous and anisotropy medium. Based on this new viewpoint, a coupled mathematical model for coal seam deformation and gas leakage in a double coal seam was formulated and numerical simulations for gas emission from the coal seam are presented. It is found that coupled models might be closer to reality.

Controlling Effects of Surrounding Rock to Coal Seam Gas Occurrence

Surrounding rock of coal seam was one of the important factors to gas occurrence. The coal seam gas occurrence was studied by the index of roof strata thickness or sand content rate;we found that there were certain shortcomings. In order to reasonably evaluate the influence of coal seam surrounding rock on gas occurrence in Panji mining area, we quantitatively evaluated the effect of coal seam surrounding rock on gas occurrence by influence coefficient of roof strata thickness, and built six mathematical models of the variational gas content in the mining area which is divided into six gas geological units. The results shows that the coal seam gas content is mainly influenced by 20 mroof strata in each gas geological unit, the gas content presents the tendency of increase, and with the influence coefficient of strata thickness increases, they exist a significant linear relationship.

Gas Drainage Technology in Fully Mechanized Caving Face with Horizontal Sublevel Mining in Steep and Extra-Thick Coal Seam

This paper analyzes the gas source of the horizontally sectioned fully mechanized caving face in the steeply inclined and extra-thick seam of Adaohai Coal Mine, and numerically simulates the stress distribution and pressure relief of the lower section coal after the upper section working face is mined. It theoretically analyzed the reasonable layout of the drainage boreholes, and designed the drainage borehole layout accordingly. In the upper and lower section of the working face, the actual drainage effect of the boreholes was inspected, and the air exhaust gas volume in the working face was statistically analyzed. It was confirmed that the layout of boreholes was reasonable, the gas control effect of working face was greatly improved and fully met the needs of safe mining. The control effect was greatly improved and the need for safe mining was fully met, and thus a gas drainage technology suitable for the coal seam storage conditions and mining technology of the Adaohai Coal Mine was found. That is to say: the gas emission from the working face of the section mining mainly comes from its lower coal body. Pre-draining the lower coal body of the section and depressurizing gas interception and drainage are the key to effectively solve the problem of gas emission from the working face. Drainage boreholes in the working face of the section should be arranged at high and low positions. The high-level boreholes are located about 2 m from the top of the working face, and the high-level boreholes are about 9 m away from the top of the working face. Through the pre drainage of high and low-level boreholes in advance and the interception and pressure relief drainage, the gas control in the horizontal sublevel fully mechanized caving mining face in steep and extra thick coal seam can realize a virtuous cycle.