Experimental research into the relationship between initial gas release and coal-gas outbursts

Abstract

Coal and gas outbursts are a rapid and powerful energy-releasing process. The damage to coal and the release of gas in the initial stage play key roles in the occurrence of outbursts. Existing studies have mainly focused on the gas desorption processes in coal under specific conditions such as particle size, specified mass and exposure time of pulverized coal. However, these studies have focused less on the gas release during the initial stage, and the quantitative relationship between the outburst risk level and the test results. Seven coal samples with different metamorphic degrees were chosen for use in outburst simulation experiments to investigate trends in gas release from pulverized coal in the presence of N2 and CO2. The results demonstrate a strong correlation between the gas release capacity during the first 10 s and natural desorption gas content of the onset of coal exposure during the first 120 min. In general, the higher the gas content, the larger the released gas volume, and thus the larger the limiting amount of desorptive gas. The gas release from an outburst coal sample is larger than that from a non-outburst coal sample within the first 10 s. There is a good linear relationship between the initial volume of released gas (in the first 10 s) and the initial expansion energy of released gas (IEERG), which can reflect the risk of coal outburst. Thus, according to the outburst critical value (42.98 mJ/g) of IEERG, the critical value of initial volume of released gas could be calculated to be 1.113 cm3/g. The results can provide a reference for further study of the effect of gas on outbursts and the investigation of coal and gas outbursts disasters.