Strengthening borehole configuration from the retaining roadway for greenhouse gas reduction: a case study

Fei Xue; Nong Zhang; Xiaowei Feng; Xigui Zheng; Jiaguang Kan

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0115874

Strengthening borehole configuration from the retaining roadway for greenhouse gas reduction: a case study

PLoS One. 2015 Jan 29;10(1):e0115874. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0115874. eCollection 2015.

Authors

Fei Xue¹, Nong Zhang², Xiaowei Feng¹, Xigui Zheng¹, Jiaguang Kan¹

Affiliations

¹ School of Mines, Key Laboratory of Deep Coal Resource Mining, Ministry of Education of China, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou, Jiangsu 221116, China.
² School of Mines, Key Laboratory of Deep Coal Resource Mining, Ministry of Education of China, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou, Jiangsu 221116, China; Hunan Key Laboratory of Safe Mining Techniques of Coal Mines, Hunan University of Science and Technology, Xiangtan 411201, China.

Abstract

A monitoring trial was carried out to investigate the effect of boreholes configuration on the stability and gas production rate. These boreholes were drilled from the retaining roadway at longwall mining panel 1111(1) of the Zhuji Coalmine, in China. A borehole camera exploration device and multiple gas parameter measuring device were adopted to monitor the stability and gas production rate. Research results show that boreholes 1~8 with low intensity and thin casing thickness were broken at the depth of 5~10 m along the casing and with a distance of 2~14 m behind the coal face, while boreholes 9~11 with a special thick-walled high-strength oil casing did not fracture during the whole extraction period. The gas extraction volume is closely related to the boreholes stability. After the stability of boreholes 9~11 being improved, the average gas flow rate increased dramatically 16-fold from 0.13 to 2.21 m3/min, and the maximum gas flow rate reached 4.9 m3/min. Strengthening boreholes configuration is demonstrated to be a good option to improve gas extraction effect. These findings can make a significant contribution to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from the coal mining industry.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Coal Mining*
Environmental Monitoring*
Greenhouse Effect / prevention & control*

Grants and funding

This study was sponsored by Program for Changjiang Scholars and Innovative Research Team in University (Grant No. IRT_14R55) and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (Grant No. 2014XT01). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.