Abstract
Spontaneous combustion of Indian coals was investigated using sponcomb rig at University of Nottingham, UK to assess their susceptibility. In present study authors used eleven coal samples collected from the Jharia coalfield (JCF), India covering both fiery and non-fiery coal seams. Both thermal as well as gas profiles from sponcomb rig were studied critically to develop a fire ladder facilitating assessment of spontaneous combustion propensity of coal. The product of combustion gases (CO, CO2, CH4 and H2) emitted from sponcomb rig within the temperature range between ambient and 300 °C of these coal samples were studied. It has been observed that in this study temperature of coal samples reached to 550 °C. The signature of gases released from heating reveal that the CO releases in low temperature range i.e. 60–120 °C whereas H2 in temperature range 80–140 °C. The emission of CO2 initiates within the temperature range from 180 to 240 °C whereas CH4 releases at higher temperature range i.e. 360–480 °C. The oxygen concentration of the product of combustion gases reduces as the CO2 levels increase. The initial product of combustion gas i.e. CO followed by H2 indicates spontaneous combustion of coal in laboratory condition for Jharia coalfield. The temperatures at which CO and H2 release in the level of 50 ppm (i.e. TCO50, TH250) and modified crossing point temperature of coal (CPTCT) determined from sponcomb rig categorises the coal as per their propensity to spontaneous combustion. The results of these methods have been compared with other standard method i.e. crossing point temperature method, which is widely adopted in India to verify the suitability of this method.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Tideswell, F.V., Wheeler, R.V.: LXXXVI.-The oxidation of the ingredients of banded bituminous coal. Studies in the composition of coal. J. Chem. Soc. Trans. 117, 794–801 (1920)
Kreulen, D.J.W.: Elements of coal Chemistry. Nijgh and Van Ditmer N.V, Rotterdam (1948)
Parr, S.W., Coons, C.C.: Carbon dioxide as an index of the critical oxidation temperature for coal in storage. Ind. Eng. Chem. 17(2), 118–120 (1925)
Chamberlain, E.A.C., Hall, D.A.: The practical early detection of spontaneous combustion. Colliery Guardian 221(5), 190–194 (1973)
Feng, K.K., Chakravorty, R.N., Cochrane, T.S.: Spontaneous combustion—a coal mining hazard. Can. Min. Metall. Bull. 66(738), 75–84 (1973)
Banerjee, S.C., Banerjee, B.D., Chakravorty, R.N.: Rate studies of aerial oxidation of coal at low temperatures (30–170 °C). Fuel 49(3), 324–331 (1970)
Bagchi, S.: An investigation on some factors affecting the determination of crossing point of coals. J. Mine. Metall. Fuels 13(8), 243–247 (1965)
Gouws, M., Wade, L.: The self-heating liability of coal: Predictions based on simple indices. Min. Sci. Technol. 9, 75–80 (1989)
Gouws, M., Wade, L.: The self-heating liability of coal: predictions based on composite indices. Min. Sci. Technol. 9, 81–85 (1989)
Panigrahi, D.C., Saxena, V.K, Udaybhanu, G.: A study of susceptibility of Indian coals to spontaneous combustion and its correlation with their intrinsic properties. In: Proceedings, 1st International Conference on Mine Environment and Ventilation, Dhanbad, India, pp. 347–353 (2000)
Panigrahi, D.C., Sahu, H.B.: Classification of coal seams with respect to their spontaneous heating susceptibility—a neural network approach. Geotech. Geol. Eng. 22(4), 457–476 (2004)
Sahu, H.B., Padhee, S., Mahapatra, S.S.: Prediction of spontaneous heating susceptibility of Indian coals using fuzzy logic and artificial neural network models. Exp. Syst. Appl. 38(3), 2271–2282 (2011)
Nimaje, D.S., Tripathy, D.P., Nanda, S.K.: Development of regression models for assessing fire risk of some Indian coals. Int. J. Intell. Syst. Appl. 2, 52–58 (2013) (Published Online January 2013 in MECS)
Ganguli, M.K., Banerjee, N.G.: Critical oxidation and ignition temperature of coal. Indian Min. Mettalurgy Assoc. (IMMA) Rev. 2, 1 (1953)
Chen, X.D., Chong, L.V.: Several important issues related to the crossing-point-temperature (CPT) method for measuring self-ignition kinetics of combustible solids. Trans. IChemE Part B Process Saf. Environ. Prot. 76(B), 90–93 (1997)
BS-ISO-7404-3: Methods for the Petrographic Analysis of Coals—Method of Determining Maceral Group Composition. British Standards Institute, UK (2009)
BS-6127-5: Petrographic Analysis of Bituminous Coal and Anthracite—Part 5: Method of Determining Microscopically the Reflectance of Vitrinite. British Standards Institute, UK (1995)
Marinov (a), V.N.: Self-ignition and mechanisms of interaction of coal with oxygen at low temperatures. 1. Changes in the composition of coal heated at constant rate to 250 °C in air. Fuel 56(2), 153–157 (1977)
Marinov (b), V.N.: Self-ignition and mechanisms of interaction of coal with oxygen at low temperatures. 2. Changes in weight and thermal effects on gradual heating of coal in air in the range 20–300 °C. Fuel 56(2), 158–164 (1977)
Wang, H., Dlugogorski, B.Z., Kennedy, E.M.: Coal oxidation at low temperatures: oxygen consumption, oxidation products, reaction mechanism and kinetic modelling. Prog. Energy Combust. Sci. 29(6), 487–513 (2003)
Xie, W., Pan, W.P.: Thermal characterization of materials using evolved gas analysis. J. Therm. Anal. Calorim. 65(3), 669–685 (2001)
Trenczek, S.: Levels of possible self-heating of coal against current research. Arch. Min. Sci. 53(2), 293–317 (2008)
Mohalik, N.K., et al.: Proper sampling of mine gases, analysis and interpretation—a pre requisite for assessment of sealed off fire area. J. Mines Metals Fuels 54(10 & 11), 210–217 (2006)
Struminski, A., Madeja-Struminska, B.: Evaluation of arising spontaneous fire centre temperature and time of coal self-Ignition. In: Eighth International Mine Ventilation Congress, Brisbane Queensland, pp. 511–515, 6–8 July 2005
Ray, S.K., et al.: Assessing the status of sealed fire in underground coal mines. J. Sci. Ind. Res. 63(7), 579–591 (2004)
Singh, A.K., et al.: Mine fire gas indices and their application to Indian underground coal mine fires. Int. J. Coal Geol. 69(3), 192–204 (2007)
Acknowledgements
Authors are grateful to Commonwealth Scholarship Commission, UK and University of Nottingham for their financial support (Commonwealth Scholarship and Fellowship Plan—2010, INCS-2010-192). The authors are obliged to Ministry of Human Resources and Development, Government of India and Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) for their kind permission to avail the above fellowship. Authors acknowledge thanks to Director, CSIR-CIMFR, all staffs of Mine Fire, Ventilation and Miner’s Safety Research Group, CSIR-CIMFR for necessary help for sample collection.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 Science Press and Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
About this paper
Cite this paper
Mohalik, N.K., Lester, E., Lowndes, I.S. (2019). Fire Ladder Study to Assess Spontaneous Combustion Propensity of Indian Coal. In: Chang, X. (eds) Proceedings of the 11th International Mine Ventilation Congress. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-1420-9_53
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-1420-9_53
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore
Print ISBN: 978-981-13-1419-3
Online ISBN: 978-981-13-1420-9
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceEarth and Environmental Science (R0)