Prognosis of residual coal gas capacity made by the ‘Express’ method

An easy, reliable, and inexpensive method, called ‘Express’ method, was described to determine the residual gas capacity of deep mines using results from an air and gas balance. Air and gas balances are common elements of mine management and must be performed periodically. Using the process described here to obtain balance results, it is straightforward to obtain the residual gas capacity, which is an important parameter for decision-making in current mine operations. After a mine is closed, the residual gas capacity becomes a dominant factor used to select methods to protect against gas emissions from the closed underground area or perhaps to provide information for the use of gas reserves. The proposed ‘Express’ method is a much simpler method to obtain the residual gas capacity than other procedures used for this purpose to date.