Page 15 - Advanced Mine Ventilation

xiv Preface

Adequate control of respirable dust such that coal workers’ pneumoconiosis (CWP) has
2.
been eliminated in some countries and minimized in most countries.
Efficient drainage of methane pre-mining and post-mining such that mine explosions are
3.
minimized, if not, eliminated. Each large coal mine has become a potential field for gas
production with added profit.
Design of coal mines such that it minimizes the risk of spontaneous combustion of coal and
4.
consequently reduces the chances of mine fire.
Advanced Mine Ventilation discusses these four topics in four sections named:
Coal Mine Ventilation
1.
Respirable dust control
2.
Combustible gas control
3.
Mine fire control
4.
The author had the unique opportunity to research and work on all four topics over
his 50 years’ service to the coal industry.
The coal mine ventilation section has six chapters comprising, (1) Underground
coal mine atmosphere, (2) Air flow in mine airways, (3) Turbulent dispersion of pol-
lutants in mine airways, (4) Estimation of ventilation air quantity, (5) Ventilation
network analysis, and (6) Mechanical and natural ventilation.
The respirable dust control section has six chapters comprising, (7) Health hazards
of respirable dusts, (8) Characteristics of respirable coal dust particles, (9) Generation
of respirable coal dust, (10) Respirable dust control, (11) Diesel Exhaust control, and
(12) Respirable dust sampling and measurements.
The combustible gas control section has eight chapters comprising, (13) Origin of
gases in coal mines, (14) Reservoir properties of coal seams, (15) Pre-mining degas-
ification of coal seams, (16) Post-Mining degasification of coal mines, (17) Floor
gas emissions and gas outburst, (18) Gas transport in underground coal mines, (19)
Measurement and monitoring of mine gases, and (20) Economics of coal mine
degasification.
The mine fire management section has four chapters comprising, (21) Spontaneous
combustion of coal, (22) Prevention of frictional ignitions, (23) Gas and dust
explosions, and (24) Mine sealing and recovery.
Advance mine ventilation is a unique book that is not only an excellent reference
book for the practicing mine engineer but also a great text book for two graduate level
courses in Mining Engineering program. I recommend teaching mine ventilation and
respirable dust control in one semester , and combustible gas control and mine fire
management in the second semester.
I owe thanks and gratitude to a number of people for helping me to learn the con-
tents of this book and actually practicing it in the industry for the past 50 years.
Coal mine ventilation: to late Dr. H Hartmann of the University of Alabama who
invited me to write chapters in his books on Mine ventilation and air conditioning.
Respirable dust control: to Dr. AK Sinha and late Dr. R Stefanko under whose guid-
ance I did my MS (Characterization of coal dust particles) and Ph.D. theses
(Computer-aided analysis of diesel exhaust dispersion in mine airways) respectively.