Evaluation of the propensity for coal spontaneous combustion based on catastrophe theory

Abstract

Generally, different prevention measures should be taken according to spontaneous combustion propensities. The current methods to evaluate the propensity of coal spontaneous combustion, such as chromatographic method of oxygen adsorption, oxidation kinetics method and activation energy method, are mostly affected by human factors. Their boundaries among different classes of propensities were all established by subjective judgments. A new evaluation method using catastrophe theory is introduced. This method can accurately depict the process of coal spontaneous combustion and the evaluation index, “catastrophe temperature”, be obtained based on the model. In terms of catastrophe temperature, the spontaneous combustion propensity of different coals can be sequenced. Experimental data indicate that this method is appropriate to describe the spontaneous combustion process and to evaluate the propensity of coal spontaneous combustion.