Study of the Hazard of Endogenous Fires in Coal Mines—A Chemometric Approach

Abstract

The most commonly used practice to assess fire hazard development in underground coal mines is based on the measurement of the concentration of selected gases in the mine’s air. The main goal of this study was present a strategy to monitor the gaseous atmosphere in the mine in order to identify the onset of an endogenous fire in the coal seam. For that purpose, the principal component analysis (PCA) and the hierarchical clustering analysis (HCA) were applied. The monitoring covers the measurements of concentration of CO, CO2, H2, O2, N2, and selected hydrocarbons, respectively throughout the whole of one year. The chemometric methods applied allow for effective exploration of the similarities between the studied samples collected both under fire hazard conditions and under safe conditions. Based on the constructed models, the groups of objects characterized with the highest content of ethylene, acetylene, propylene, and carbon monoxide were identified. These samples indicate the endogenic fire in coal mine.

Keywords

• coal
• self-heating
• mine fire
• hierarchical clustering analysis
• principal component analysis