A sad piece of news, by no means the first, has come again from Donbas about a disaster that occurred at the Zasiadko Coal Mine, precisely the same mine where Ukrainian National Academy of Sciences experts have done certain work in the past few years to reduce the danger of explosion by removing and disposing of the underground methane, the main source of blasts and fires.
As we know, underground methane is an integral part of coal deposits, and the technological process of coal extraction includes the removal of this gas. Geologists know only too well the way methane develops and spreads in the coal layers. However, spotting accumulations of this gas, working out methods of its removal, and of its rational utilization is a complex problem. This is especially true of the so-called old deposits of coal, to which Donbas belongs, where geological layers have been considerably displaced over the past thousand years and the deep-lying coal has a high content of other impurities.
The task is further complicated by the necessity to adjust the methane removal and disposal pattern — the location of shafts, transportation, and utilization methods — to the infrastructure of this highly urbanized territory.
It will also be recalled that the emission of the coal methane into the air is prohibited because this would actively promote the so-called greenhouse effect which causes global warming.
All this means that the problem of the rational removal of methane and reducing the risk of explosion can only be solved by using computers and state-of-the-art mathematical methods.
In 1995-1998 researchers of the V. M. Hlushko Institute of Cybernetics and the Institute of Natural Gas of the Ukrainian National Academy of Sciences, developed a pilot system to solve the problems of the rational use and local electric plants during grid load peaks. Also developed has been the business plan and the methane disposal pilot project for the Horsk coal field (Pershotravvuhillia, Luhansk oblast) to bring gas to the district center of Horsk and reduce the electricity needs of the mine itself by 40%, which would make it possible to cut daily expenditures from UAH 600,000 to 350,000. Incidentally, this project’s payback time is under six months.
It is at the Zasiadko Mine that this system was to be put into operation. A rational pattern was developed to install industrial pipelines and methane conversion and disposal plants for 47 shafts through which the coal methane was to be extracted. The scheme envisioned three possible ways of disposal: transporting methane to one of the existing gas compressor stations, supplying the gas to the local boiler-room, and, finally, pumping methane into the main natural gas pipeline.
The work already done has confirmed the great potential of the computerized system we had offered, which makes it possible to drastically reduce the time of drawing up mine methane disposal patterns and essentially increase their quality by means of computer modeling, the analysis of many likely options and processing a huge volume of geological, technological, economic, and social data.
When we were doing this work, we came to know that the Zasiadko Mine was about to exploit a new coal field. We suggested working out a methane disposal scheme in this field. The project cost an estimated UAH 100- 150,000.
Unfortunately, these funds were not found, and the proposed work was never done. We are not inclined to blame anyone but state clearly that this circumstance contributed to the new disaster at the Zasiadko Mine. Events are inexorable. Yet, this raises a natural doubt: could precisely this be the cause?
Later our experts drew up disposal schemes for the Kakhovske methane and coal field and the West Donbas No. 6-42 coal field (Pavlohrad district, Dnipropetrovsk oblast) in 1998 with the purpose of bringing natural gas to five populated areas in 1999-2000 and using the residual gas in automobiles
We have given these concrete examples to show what a wide range of problems can now be solved by means of the computer aids suggested. But, so far, only our specialists are familiar with this method. The goal is to make the computer-aided technology accessible to practically all institutions that deal with the problems of coal mine safety, underground methane disposal and coal mining development.
But this needs certain funds. Our efforts in search of these funds have proven futile.
The Center for Alternative Fuels, a state-run facility, is not in a position to finance our research, while the coal mine managers and executives show no interest.
Also failed was our attempt to secure a state order from the Ministry of Education and Research in 2000 for scientific and technological products as part of the priority area of Information Technologies in the Fuel-and-Energy Sector.
Yet this remains an extraordinarily promising project.
Calculations show that organizing coal mine methane utilization even with the available resources, without special investment, only by means of a judicious approach and with due sense of responsibility, would make it possible to obtain practically free gas fuel at approximately 10% of the current requirements.
And if a methane-extracting industry were set up on a national scale, this would mean satisfying 30% of our current own natural gas requirements.
Who will come to grips with this important nationwide problem?
We cannot answer.
Simultaneously we were embittered to hear the president’s public statement that it is necessary to turn to the US for help in the coal industry.
It is unwise to turn for help at a time when scorn is being poured on our domestic R&D projects which can fundamentally improve safety in the coal sector, to say nothing about additional sources of gas fuel.
INCIDENTALLY
According to a representative of the Industrial Disability Social Insurance Fund, the government commission, now investigating what caused the recent disaster at the Zasiadko Coal Mine, decided to pay allowances to 69 relatives (including 57 children) of the miners who died and were injured. For example, the families of those who died will be entitled to a lump sum of UAH 3,721,869.80, equivalent to an average five-year wage, and a lump sum of UAH 1,061,293.54, equivalent to an average yearly wage. In addition, the Social Insurance Fund will pay a monthly UAH 29,048.37 to the miners’ families and dependents. In addition, the fund’s regional branch has already allocated UAH 136,950 for the funerals of the victims. Now being discussed is the amount necessary for treatment of the injured at the regional burn center and other medical institutions. As of today, the fund has already appropriated 5 million hryvnias, although the amounts to be paid are subject to repeated revisions, as necessary.
Oleksandr Lutsenko, press center chief at the State Department for Industrial Safety Supervision, stated that the mines that are considered the most inflammable have now been placed under round-the-clock surveillance, had the number of inspectors increased, and had their roadways shale-lined under a US technology. The Zasiadko Mine itself is now employing two Poland-supplied plants which pump in carbon dioxide to forestall the further inflammation of coal, although the fire has so far not been put completely out.
At the same time, Anatoly Tokarev, deputy leader of the Donetsk regional branch of the Independent Miners Trade Union, thinks that, despite the heavy toll of human lives, safety-provision work, especially dealing with methane outbursts, is considered, oddly enough, of secondary importance. “If the forecast technology were observed and anti- explosion measures were taken before miners went underground, the number of accidents associated with methane explosion would be drastically cut,” he said. of coal mines in order to remove and dispose of methane.
