Faculty of Engineering School of Civil and Enviromental Engineering 9506023j PMISTRY@WEBMAIL.co.za / This report investigates the viability of satellite remote sensing in monitoring the rehabilitation of coal discard dumps. Four levels of thermal monitoring data were assessed in this project. These were: ground and below surface temperature probes; aerial thermal and atmospheric monitoring surveys; high altitude aircraft; and satellites. Remote sensing methods measure only variation of temperatures on the surface of the dump. Fires on discard dumps are sub-surface fires, and the depth and extent of the fire below the surface cannot be easily inferred. The resolution of satellite sensors is a limiting factor for detecting individual hotspots on dumps. Small mine dumps occupy just a few pixels and the position of fires cannot be accurately assessed. Although the larger dumps are discernable, the variation of temperatures across the dump cannot be easily determined. For the present, aircraft monitoring may be the most viable means of monitoring spontaneous combustion in coal discard dumps, until satellite resolutions improve further.

The problem of self-heating of combustible dusts accumulated on hot surfaces has caused several fires and dust explosions. The current test standards (ASTM E 2021, EN50281-2-1) used to ensure safe environment for a given dust, define a safe temperature of the flat hot surface for certain dust layer thickness. Since in these standards, measurement of temperature is taken along the centerline, they mainly represent a simplified scenario of one-dimensional heat transfer. A need to investigate behavior of spontaneous ignition in dust deposits in complex geometries forms the motivation of this work. The effect of hot surface geometry is experimentally studied by devising wedge-shaped configurations having angles of 60o and 90o. Results show that ignition always occurred around the top region in the case of 60o wedge, and in the top and middle regions in the case of 90o wedge. These trends are explained by investigating three parameters affecting the ignition behavior, namely, the heat transfer from the hot plate to the dust, the rate of heat transfer between different regions within the dust and the minimum volume of dust required to produce sufficient heat release. A mathematical method has been proposed to predict the ignition behavior of dust deposit subjected to any boundary conditions arising due to geometrical confinement. Further, numerical simulations have been carried out to simulate the conjugate heat transfer in the interface of dust surface and air. Both analyses, mathematical and numerical, compare well with the experimental data. Furthermore, in the standard test method, ASTM E- 2021, a metal ring is used to contain the sample dusts. It is observed from experimental and numerical simulations that the resultant temperature field is not one-dimensional as desired since the corner part ignites first due to heat transfer from both the bottom plate and the metal ring, which is at almost same temperature as that of bottom plate. Theories those describe the thermal ignition in these standard tests, use the assumption that the heat flow is unidirectional. Therefore, a better substitute to the metal ring has been proposed as a ring made out of an insulating material (having low thermal conductivity). This makes the heat transfer to the dust layer phenomenally one-dimensional. Another leg of the experiments have been carried out to investigate the effect of weathering of combustible dusts on their spontaneous ignition process. Two types of weathering methods, heat- and moisture-weathering are used. Sample preparation and weathering quantification methods follow the standard test procedure. Thermogravimetric analysis has been employed to understand the variation in weight loss of fresh, heat-weathered and moisture-weathered samples of coal and organic dusts. Preliminary results show that heat weathering increases the hazard level for organic (wheat) dust. In summary, the current research work mainly involves modification of the standard test method such as ASTM E-2021 to include an insulated ring instead of a metal ring to ensure one-dimensional heat transfer and extending the test method to include wedge-shaped geometries. The spontaneous ignition of combustible dust in the new setups is investigated thoroughly. Furthermore, mathematical and numerical models have been proposed to simulate the experimental tests. Finally, the effect of two types of weathering processes on the characteristics of spontaneous ignition has been studied. In all the cases, results are thoroughly discussed with the explanation of the physics involved.

"The hazard associated with dust deflagrations has increased over the last decade industries that manufacture, transport, process, or use combustible dusts. Identification of the controlling parameters of dust deflagration mechanisms is crucial to our understanding of the problem. The objective of this study is to develop an experimental platform, called the Hybrid Flame Analyzer (HFA), capable of measuring the laminar and turbulent burning velocity of gas, dust, and hybrid (gas and dust) air premixed flames as a function of properties specific to the reactants such as dust-particle size and concentration. In this work the HFA is used to analyze a particle-gas-air premixed system composed of coal dust particles (75-90 µm and 106-120 µm) in a premixed CH4-air ( = 0.8, 1.0 and 1.2) flame. This work ultimately aims to improve the knowledge on fundamental aspects of dust flames which is essential for the development of mathematical models. This study is the first of its kind where multiple different parameters that govern flame propagation (initial particle radius, particle concentration, gas phase equivalence ratio, turbulent intensity, and integral length scale) are systematically analyzed in a spatially uniform cloud of volatile particles forming a stationary flame. The experiments show that the turbulent burning velocity is more than two-times larger than the laminar counter-part for each and every case studied. It is observed that smaller particles and larger concentrations (> 50 g/m3) tend to enhance the turbulent burning velocity significantly compared to larger particle sizes and lower concentration ranges. The experimental data is used to develop a correlation similar to turbulent gas flames to facilitate modeling of the complex behavior. "

"This study investigates the interaction of micron- sized coal particles entrained into lean methane €“ air premixed flames. In a typical axisymmetric burner, coal particles are made to naturally entrain into a stream of the premixed reactants using an orifice plate setup. Pittsburgh seam coal dust, with three particle sizes in the range of 0 to 25 µm, 53 to 63 µm, and 75 to 90 µm is used. The effects of different coal dust concentrations (10 €“ 300 g/m3) at three lean equivalence ratios, ϕ (methane-air) of 0.75, 0.80 and 0.85 on the laminar burning velocity are determined experimentally. The laminar burning velocity of the coal dust-methane-air mixture is determined by taking a shadowgraph of the resulting flame and using the cone-angle method. The results show that the addition of coal dust in methane-air premixed flame reduces the laminar burning velocity at particle size of 53 to 63 µm and 75 to 90 µm. However, burning velocity promotion is observed for 0 to 25 µm particles at ϕ = 0.80. Two competing effects are assumed involved in the process. The first is burning velocity promotion effect that the released volatile increases the gaseous mixture equivalence ratio and thus the burning velocity. The second is the heat sink effect of the coal particles to reduce the flame temperature and accordingly the burning velocity. A mathematical model is developed based on such assumption and it can successfully predict the change of laminar burning velocity at various dust concentration. Furthermore, the implication of this study to coal mine safety is discussed."

The displacement of oil from a consolidated sandstone core has been investigated using microemulsion slugs located in a single phase region. Phase diagram was prepared at the salinity lower than the optimum salinity of the system. Formation of an oil bank and resulting fractional flow of oil was dependent upon the oil content and size of the microemulsion slug. For a low salinity polymer buffer, the sulfonate adsorption was low but no increase in oil recovery was obtained. Breakthrough of the oil bank occured at 0.135 to 0.25 injected pore volumes which was followed by a white macroemulsion. The displacement process has been discribed qualitatively on the basis of analysis of the produced fluids. Screening criteria based on solubilisation parameters and fluid viscosity measurements were found to be adequate for the selection of surfactant and alcohol. Polyacrylamide was found to be inadequate. A polysachharide polymer provided adequate mobility control acheiving a higher effective viscosity in consolidated core than that calculated from simplified models. The capillary number concept was investigated over a wide range of velocity, viscosity and interfacial tension. Release of oil at the onset of mobilisation was governed by the interfacial forces and by viscous forces at ultralow interfacial tension. Dispersion in single phase flow through sandpacks and consolidated core were carried out for both saturated and partially saturated condition. Surfactant, sucrose and tritiated water were employed as dispersion tracers. Longitudinal dispersion coefficient, D1, increased with increasing sandpack permeability but was independent of sulfonate and alcohol concentration, salinity gradient, interfacial tension, sulfonate solubility and for a limited range of favourable viscosity ratio. increased with increasing immobile oil saturation in sandpacks but there was no effect in the consolidated core. The breakthrough curves for sandpacks showed good agreement with the prediction of a convective-diffusion model while the consolidated core exhibited a slight capacitance effect. Convective-diffusion and capacitance models were solved numerically using a Crank-Nicholson finite difference technique with different boundary conditions. The former exhibited a small measure of sensitivity with respect to boundary conditions used but the latter was fairly insensitive to change in boundary conditions.

Este estudo apresenta a comparação e discussão entre registros de perfilagem geofísica obtidos por três sondas elétricas que medem resistividades de litologias. Uma análise detalhada foi feita para detectar qual destas sondas utilizadas proporciona a melhor opção em termos de identificação das camadas de carvão e resolução vertical. As sondas elétricas utilizadas foram: guard log (GLOG), single point resistance (SPR) e induction log (IND). Para auxiliar na comparação entre esses diferentes perfis, outros dois registros geofísicos importantes foram incluídos: radiação gama natural (GN) e optical televiewer (OPTV), os quais ajudaram a identificar os estratos de carvão. No caso específico do OPTV, quando a situação é favorável, ele permite identificar os estratos de carvão e verificar a resolução vertical dos demais registros, em função da excelente resolução vertical. As imagens produzidas pelo OPTV podem, nas circunstâncias adequadas, servir como testemunho digital, para complementar ou mesmo substituir as amostras de sondagem com recuperação de testemunhos. Neste estudo, foram analisados dados obtidos em 4 depósitos de carvão diferentes: Área B3, Calombo, Cerro e Seival. Todos os depósitos de carvão acima citados situam-se no estado do Rio Grande do Sul (RS) - Brasil. Ao todo, 15 furos foram apresentados e discutidos. Destes, 13 são furos de sondagem com recuperação de testemunhos, enquanto que os dois restantes são furos de desmonte. As descrições geológicas dos 13 furos de sondagens são as informações principais utilizadas como parâmetro de controle nas comparações entre os perfis geofísicos, enquanto que as imagens OPTV serviram como uma alternativa para verificar a resolução vertical dos perfis elétricos. Ao final das análises, verificou-se que o dispositivo guard-log (GLOG) tende a ter o melhor desempenho no aspecto de identificação litológica, demonstrando uma capacidade superior em relação aos demais arranjos em termos de resolução vertical. Estatisticamente, ele apresentou as estimativas de espessuras mais próximas em valor, em relação às espessuras proporcionadas pelas descrições geológicas de testemunhos de sondagem. / This study presents a comparison and discussion between the geophysical logs obtained by three electrical probes that measure resistivity of lithologies. A detailed analysis was carried out to detect which of these probes, provides the best option in terms of identification of coal seams and vertical resolution. The electrical probes used were guard log (GLOG), single point resistance (SPR) and induction log (IND). To aid the comparison between the different logs, two other important geophysical logs were included: natural gamma radiation (GN) and optical televiewer (OPTV), which helped to identify the coal seams. In the specific case of OPTV, when the situation is favorable, it identifies the coal seams and check the vertical resolution of the other logs, in function of its excellent vertical resolution. The images produced by OPTV can serve, in appropriate circumstances, as digital core sample to complement or even replace the diamond drill core samples recovery. In this study, analyzed data were obtained from four different coal deposits, which are: B3 Area, Calombo, Cerro and Seival. All the coal deposits mentioned above are located in the state of Rio Grande do Sul (RS) - Brazil. In all, 15 boreholes were presented and discussed. Out of these, 13 are boreholes with recovered core samples, while the remaining two are blastholes. The geological descriptions of the 13 boreholes are the main information used as a control parameter in comparisons against the geophysical logs, while OPTV images served as an alternative to verify the vertical resolution of the electric logs. At the end of the analysis, it was found that the guard-log probe (GLOG) tends to have better performance in the aspect of lithological identification, demonstrating a greater capacity in comparison with the other in terms of vertical resolution. Statistically, it presented the closest estimated value in relation to the coal seams thickness provided by geological description of the recovered core samples.

Thesis. 1976. Sc.D.--Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Chemical Engineering. / Microfiche copy available in Archives and Science. / Vita. / Bibliography: leaves 321-328. / by Ashok S. Padia. / Sc.D.

Thesis. 1979. M.S.--Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Alfred P. Sloan School of Management. / MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND DEWEY. / Bibliography: leaves 119-121. / M.S.

Thesis. 1975. M.S.--Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Chemical Engineering. / Bibliography: leaves 194-198. / by Philip C. Lewellen. / M.S.

A significant amount of palynological work has been done on southern African coal seams in the Ecca Group, but as yet there is little consensus on how these areas relate to each other. This study investigated the palynology of a coal seam from Mmamantswe (Mmamabula area), Botswana, approximately 70 km north-east of Gaborone. A total of 124 samples were taken from two borehole cores and subjected to acid preparation, oxidation and acetolysis. Coal samples were found to be barren of palynomorphs. Fifty carbonaceous mudstones and siltstone samples yielded twenty-two productive samples. A thermal alteration index of 3.0-3.5 was assigned for the sediments. Palynomorph diversity was high, with 64 genera and 90 species present, dominated by trilete and alete spores. This indicates a parent flora of mostly lower order lycopods, sphenophytes and ferns. Non-taeniate bisaccate and monosaccate pollens were scarce, and striates extremely rare (only two species), suggesting an autochthonous origin for the coal swamp. The Mmamantswe core was sub-divided into five microfloral assemblage zones. A transition from monosaccate dominance in the lower part of the core, to equal numbers of monosaccates and non-taeniate bisaccates in the upper part of the core, was seen. As the Mmamantswe palynoflora possesses elements of both the Late Carboniferous glacial floras and the mid-Permian coal floras, it is thought to represent a cross-over assemblage dating to soon after the Permo-Carboniferous boundary (Sakmarian and Early Artinskian). The Mmamantswe assemblage can be correlated with Assemblage Zones II and III of Falcon (1975a); Biozones B and C of MacRae (1988); and Zones 1, 2 and 3 of Anderson (1977) but does not fit well into any existing biozonation. The Mmamantswe palynoflora was most similar to that of Milorgfjella, Dronning Maud Land, Antarctica (Larrson et al. 1990) and the No. 2 Seam, Witbank, South Africa (Falcon 1989). Taphonomic controls on palynomorph preservation suggest that future studies should also attempt to focus on Permian sediments not containing coal, as microfloral assemblages from coal seams tend to be autochthonous, and subject to local climatic influences. Accordingly they are not as useful for inter-basinal correlation across Gondwana.