Improved Method for Extinguishing Coal Refuse Fires

Details

• Personal Author:
  Gross SS
• Description:
  Coal refuse fires present environmental and personnel hazards to those living in the vicinity of the fire as well as those engaged in the reclamation efforts. The fire can also increase subsidence problems as well as prevent revegetation and reclamation of the site. Conventional efforts have been excavation and quenching, which are expensive, dangerous, and very often unsuccessful techniques. Water flooding has also proven unsuccessful owing to the poor distribution of the water in the refuse pile. Water quickly drains from the coal refuse pile below its injection point with little or no lateral distribution. As an alternate to excavation and/or quenching, the feasibility of using water-based foams to improve the distribution of water injected into a coal refuse fire was examined. Using surfactants to foam the water and gelling agents to reduce its fluidity, tests were conducted in the laboratory and the field. The foam still tends to follow the larger channels and openings in the pile, although above as well as below the injection point. While the foam does improve water distribution in the pile, additional work needs to be conducted to prevent preferential channel flow and further improve distribution. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Occupational Health Safety
• Series:
  Mining Publications
• Subseries:
  Open File Report
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Contract
• Genre:
  Conference Publications ; Final Contract Report
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  1-100
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:10011052
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB91-227819
• Citation:
  NTIS: PB 91-227819 Available for Reference At Bureau Libraries, 1991; :1-100
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1991
• Performing Organization:
  Msa Research Corp.
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Source Full Name:
  NTIS: PB 91-227819; Available for Reference At Bureau Libraries
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:f83d72faeaad4efed2bbeab4acc8d353478a8c8f5fd2b38bf86e11b5d79b4d96c52c71a92b14f784bc85a24fd2143e85aeb3eaf88006506324bd60e88f7ee831
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/207048/cdc_207048_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 3.26 MB ]