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| Fire at an underground coal mine in Colorado |
Background
Analyses of fires in the U.S. coal mining industry for the period 1990–2002 indicated that 110 of the 560 reported fires (both underground and surface) were the result of either a flame cutting or a welding operation. These fires resulted in 70 injuries and 2 fatalities. In a 2003 mine accident, a shaft explosion in West Virginia caused by flame cutting resulted in three fatalities and three injuries. The data also show that 17% of the reported underground mine fires were caused by spontaneous combustion. Three of these fires resulted in subsequent methane explosions.
The root causes of fires and injuries caused by flame cutting or welding operations will be investigated. New and improved methodologies and technologies are being developed to prevent such fires. Promising direct interventions to prevent flame cutting and welding fires are being evaluated in field tests at underground coal mines. Recent spontaneous combustion occurrences in U.S. underground coal mines are being studied to determine the causative factors and the role of ventilation. These results are being used to develop computational fluid dynamic models to evaluate ventilation schemes to control spontaneous combustion, and to describe ventilation pathways through the immediate gob and the effect of methane control systems on these pathways.
Potential Outcome
Recommendations for changes to flame cutting and welding standards and regulations will be made during 2007. This will reduce the number of mine fires caused by cutting and welding operations. These recommendations will be easily applicable to the metal/nonmetal sector of the mining industry as well.
The project will also identify the best technologies and practices in mine ventilation and spontaneous combustion control to reduce spontaneous combustion, particularly in underground mines that have appreciable levels of methane. By 2009, this work will result in a better understanding and implementation of ventilation schemes as a dual process: control of both methane and spontaneous combustion, leading to a reduction in the number of spontaneous combustion events in underground coal mines.