ABSTRACT
Coal spontaneous combustion is a very complicated exothermic process influenced by many factors. Heat liberation intensity of coal self-ignition is very small when temperature is fairly low Thereby, it is very difficult to measure parameters of coal spontaneous combustion. Present study provide a new method in which coal spontaneous combustion is tested by simulating coal self-ignition with a newly set-up testing equipment with a capacity of about 15 000 kg coal sample, and by programmed heating experiments with a capacity of about 1.5 kg sample. Concentration of oxygen and other gases as well as temperature in the coal are real time recorded during the two experiments. Parameters like duration of spontaneous combustion, oxygen consumption rate, and heat liberation intensity of coal under different temperature can be obtained through the simulating experiment. Programmed heating experiments are also employed to test oxygen consumption rate of coal with different particle size. Influencing function of particle size, which reflected influence of particle size on spontaneous combustion, can be imitated with the result of programmed heating experiments. Through the two experiments, key parameters for predicting spontaneous combustion in coalmine can be obtained successfully.
