Gaseous emissions from the Lotts Creek coal mine fire: Perry County, Kentucky

Trent Garrison, Jennifer M.K. O'Keefe, Kevin R. Henke, Gregory C. Copley, Donald R. Blake, James C. Hower

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

15 Scopus citations

Abstract

The Lotts Creek coal mine fire is burning in abandoned works of the Pennsylvanian Hazard No. 9 coal, Perry County, Kentucky. Over the few months separating sampling trips, the fire showed a definite migration to the south. Several vents sampled on the first trip were extinct on the second trip. The flux of major gases varies from 1100 to 440,000 mg/s/m2 CO2 and < 100 to 12,000 mg/s/m2 CO, with the gas temperature being one of the principal drivers of the emissions variations; the higher the temperature, the more CO2 produced. Mercury, also showing wide variation, from 45 to 740 ng/s/m2, could not be measured at all vents due to temperature limitations inherent in the instrument. In addition to CO2, CO, and Hg, a number of gases among the volatile aliphatic and volatile aromatic compounds are emitted in potentially dangerous amounts.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)57-66
Number of pages10
JournalInternational Journal of Coal Geology
Volume180
DOIs
StatePublished - Jul 1 2017

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2017 Elsevier B.V.

Keywords

  • Air quality
  • BTEX
  • Carbon dioxide
  • Mercury

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Fuel Technology
  • Geology
  • Economic Geology
  • Stratigraphy

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