Recently, China Shenhua’s Shendong Coal saw its first project Research on Online Monitoring and Accumulated Heat Extraction Fire Prevention and Control Technology for Gangue Mountains Above Coal Mine Subsidence Areas, passed interim acceptance review. The project targets a common industry challenge: spontaneous combustion of gangue mountains releases harmful gases and endangers underground work safety. Through technological innovation, it addresses prominent issues in mine safety and ecological governance, creating a new technical pathway for comprehensive gangue mountain treatment in the industry.
At the gangue dumping site above the subsidence area of Shangwan Coal Mine, the project deployed 110 superconducting gravity heat pipes and 15 monitoring points, building a three-dimensional intelligent monitoring and treatment system enabling dynamic detection and precise handling of safety hazards in the gangue mountain. Before treatment, due to the combined effects of oxidation heat release from the gangue pile and surface exposure to sunlight, the maximum internal temperature of the gangue mountain reached 178°C, while the surface temperature reached 45°C. High-temperature heat accumulation can easily cause spontaneous combustion. Toxic and harmful gases such as carbon monoxide and sulfur dioxide penetrate underground workings through surface fissures, threatening the safety of on-site workers and posing a major hidden danger that has long restricted stable work safety in the mine.
To address treatment difficulties including high heat accumulation, high spontaneous combustion risk, and hidden hazards in gangue mountains, the project innovatively applies superconducting gravity heat pipe technology. Using the passive, energy-free heat transfer capability of heat pipes, it extracts deep accumulated heat from the gangue mountain, eliminates the root thermal cause of spontaneous combustion, promotes a continuous decline in heat accumulation in the dump, and gradually eliminates spontaneous combustion risks. It also establishes a dynamic accumulated temperature monitoring and intelligent early warning system, forming an integrated treatment model keeping heat under control at its source, tracking it in real time and triggering intelligent early warnings, thus effectively improving precise, science-based management of gangue mountain hazards.
After technical treatment, the maximum internal temperature of the gangue mountain dropped from 178°C to 57°C, and the surface temperature dropped from 45°C to 25°C. While effectively preventing and controlling spontaneous combustion risks, the project also improved regional vegetation conditions, supporting green mine construction. The project fills the technical gap in gangue mountain treatment in dynamic subsidence areas, forms a replicable and scalable complete technical solution of “monitoring–treatment–early warning,” and provides Shendong Coal’s practical experience for comprehensive gangue mountain treatment in China’s coal industry.
