Introduction
Outbursts due to the presence of a gas known as firedamp are the most frequent hazards in coal mines. Explosions due to the presence of a gas known as firedamp are the most frequent hazards in coal mines. They are often the major cause of death for operators, bringing work to a standstill and negatively impacting overall mine productivity. In this article, we take a closer look at new gas detection technologies in mines, and more specifically in coal mines, which are most affected by these phenomena.
An intrinsically safe and explosion-proof dual-gas sensor system for the measurement of carbon monoxide (CO) and methane (CH4) was created in order to monitor gas explosion and coal spontaneous combustion in coal mines in an effective manner. This work was supported in part by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the Changchun Key R&D Program, the Department of Education’s Science and Technology Research Project, the Key R&D Program of Jilin Province, China, and the Program for JLU Science and Technology Innovative Research Team.
About 70% of China’s energy consumption comes from coal, a non-renewable resource. The safety of coal mine operations is seriously threatened by coal spontaneous combustion (CSC). One of the primary gas species emitted during CSC is carbon monoxide (CO), which can be utilised to indicate when CSC is about to start. Methane (CH4) is a significant gas component in coal mines and an ignitable, explosive gas. An efficient method of preventing coal mine explosions is to monitor the quantity of CH4 in real time. Consequently, in order to ensure the safety of coal mine operations, it is essential to create a highly sensitive sensor system that can monitor both CH4 and CO at the same time.
Two measurement ranges of 0–500 ppmv and 0–300,000 ppmv for CH4 and 0–100 ppm and 0–4000 ppmv for CO were achieved using a ∼25 cm SPGC and a ∼25 m MPGC, respectively. At an averaging time of 0.5 s, the LoD is 0.19 ppmv for CO4 and 0.12 ppmv for CO, respectively. The T10%-90% and T90%-10% for the MPGC-based gas detection are ∼19 s and ∼26 s,
Conclusion
Technologies for gas detection in coal mines include chromatography, electrochemistry, catalytic combustion and infrared absorption spectroscopy. This new technology, developed in China in 2023 and based on a near-infrared wide-range dual-gas sensor system, saves time and therefore facilitates the intervention of security teams.
For further reading
Li, Y., Ma, Y., Zheng, C., Yu, D., Hu, L., Yang, S., Song, F., Li, Y., Liu, S., Zhang, Z., Zhang, Y., Wang, Y., & Tittel, F. K. (2024). Near-infrared wide-range dual-gas sensor system for simultaneous detection of methane and carbon monoxide in coal mine environment. Spectrochimica Acta Part A: Molecular and Biomolecular Spectroscopy, 307, 123581. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.saa.2023.123581
