Short-Term Predictions Of Methane Emissions During Longwall Mining

Abstract The prediction of methane emissions to the longwall environment carried out at the design stage may include subjective errors resulting from the underestimation of input values for calculations and in particular, methane saturation of underlying and overlying seams, their thickness and distance from the mined seam. The method of a short-term prediction of methane emissions to the longwall environment during its excavation which is presented in this article and which was developed as a part of a strategic research project (Krause et al., 2013), allows for verification of discrepancies between the predicted methane emissions during excavation for the designed longwall and the actual one. The method of short-term prediction allows for variant pre-estimation of methane emissions for changing operational progress and changes in methane saturation of the mined seam and surrounding deposit at the panel length. It can be used by the Mine Ventilation Department continuously during the longwall mining.