12th U.S.

/North American Mine Ventilation Symposium 2008 – Wallace (ed)

ISBN 978-0-615-20009-5

The positive pressure chamber

J. P. Brady
Joncris Sentinel Services, Queensland Australia

S. Burra & B. R. Calderwood

Austar Coal Mine, New South Wales Australia

ABSTRACT: A major spontaneous combustion incident occurred in the sealed goaf of the SL3 Panel; Southland
Colliery in 2003 resulting in the loss of a longwall and sealing of the mine. The most important issue for the new
owners, Yancoal Australia Pty. Ltd, was to effectively manage the atmosphere in the fire affected sealed area.
This atmosphere comprised of flammable gases, the products of combustion and excessive levels of oxygen due
to pressure differentials across the panel isolation seals with a potential ignition source associated with the
residual spontaneous combustion event. The challenges were met in the first instance by the erection of pressure
balance chambers with limited success. The problem was not solved until the pressure chambers were pressurized
using a Floxal Nitrogen Plant supplied by Air Liquide Australia. Given the success of this approach on a small
scale, a higher capacity Air Liquide Floxal Unit was acquired to manage spontaneous combustion at the
recommencement of longwall mining operations. This provided the ability to pressurize pressure chambers that
were installed in the Maingate Seals behind the face of the adjacent Longwall Block effectively preventing the
ingress of oxygen and permitting the goaf to self inert in a reasonable time period. This paper summarizes a new
proactive method of mitigating the risks associated with active and sealed goaves. Proactive management of these
areas using low flow nitrogen into pressure chambers to maintain a positive pressure has eliminated typical
reliance in explosion proof or explosion resistance seals as the primary control.

1 Introduction year history. This legacy is highlighted by the numerous

Spontaneous combustion results from the self heating of
coal. This process begins when coal is uncovered or mined
exposing it to air and allowing the oxidation process to
commence. If the heat generated by this chemical reaction
is not dissipated the coal temperature rises and if left
untreated will self ignite and develop into a fire, producing
large quantities of flammable and toxic gases. Under the
right conditions all coal will spontaneously combust,
however some coals have a higher propensity or are more
susceptible than others.
Spontaneous combustion incidents have claimed the
lives of at least 70 people over the last 100 years in the
underground Australian Coal Mining Industry with
hundreds, if not thousands more lives lost overseas. Whilst
a new generation of coal miners may not be aware of the
fatalities at Moura #2 (11), Kianga (13), Box Flat (17),
Bellbird (21) and others, it is a problem that has not gone
away, with significant recorded incidents an almost annual
occurrence over the last 10 years.
A major spontaneous combustion incident occurred in
the sealed goaf of the SL3 panel at Southland Colliery,
New South Wales, Australia, in 2003 and this resulted in
the loss of a longwall and sealing of the mine.
The mine was purchased by Yancoal Australia Pty. Ltd
from the administrator and renamed Austar Coal Mine.
The responsibility and major challenge was to re-
establish mining operations in the Greta Seam, notorious
for spontaneous combustion events throughout its rich 100
panels, sections, bords and at times mines that have been
sealed or lost within the Greta Coal Measures in the past
due to an inherent propensity for spontaneous combustion.
The Austar Team inherited a significant fire affected
sealed area, with major challenges including the
management of sealed areas that contained residual
heatings, combustible and noxious gases and oxygen
ingress due to ventilation and barometric pressure
differentials.
Those mine employees not directly involved with the
events of 2003 are reminded of these hazards and risks on
a daily basis as they drive to work past the Bellbird Mine
Disaster Memorial.
2 The Issue – Ineffective Sealing of Goaf Areas
A goaf is the area in underground coal mining which has
had the coal extracted and is abandoned, left to collapse
and sealed off. The areas are sealed off to prevent:
ƒ people from entering,
ƒ gases from escaping and
ƒ the ingress of oxygen which is capable of providing
conditions for spontaneous combustion or for an
explosive mixture of gases.
The seals used to prevent this are designed,
manufactured, erected and maintained to strict standards.
However, it is a fact in underground coal mining that a
flow path exists across all of these seals and that they
“breathe in and out”. This is caused by pressure

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differentials across the seals due to mine ventilation
pressures as well as diurnal and synoptic barometric
variations. Alternately air will flow through the coal
around the seals. The risk is that oxygen is able to enter the
sealed off area, thus providing conditions suitable for
spontaneous combustion events or for the formation of an
explosive mixture of gases and the potential for an
explosion.
The major spontaneous combustion incident that
occurred at Southland Coal Mine in 2003 was in a sealed
goaf adjacent to longwall mining operations at the time.
Following the recovery of the mine two major issues were
identified:
1. Managing the fire affected sealed area which
contained residual heatings, fed by the ingress of
oxygen, unacceptable concentrations of
flammable and noxious gases and breathing seals.
2. Ensuring that mining operations could
recommence without the risk of an event of this
nature ever happening again.
Initially the most important issue was to effectively
deal with the atmosphere in the fire affected sealed area.
The atmosphere in this sealed area contained large
quantities of flammable and toxic gases (the products of
combustion from the event), excessive levels of oxygen
and a potential ignition source.
Conventional industry standard ventilation methods
were used to try and reduce the amount of oxygen entering
this area. Rated seals were constructed and the coal around
the seals was grouted, glued and sprayed to further reduce
the flow path. Pressure balance chambers were erected and
maintained to reduce the pressure difference from one end
of the goaf to another but all with limited success.
Traditional world best practice for mine ventilation is
to increase the resistance of the seals. Even this was unable
to prevent oxygen from entering the goaf area. The Austar
Team was unable to overcome barometric pressure
variations as demonstrated by thermal imaging capability
(Figure 1) and atmospheric gas monitoring.
Figure 1 Leakage detected by thermal imaging camera.
This exhausted known and conventional mine
ventilation options but still left an unacceptable risk. In
addition, the failure to be able to control oxygen ingress
through three seal/chamber locations raised significant
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concerns about the ability to manage >20 seal locations
required for future mining operations.
A comprehensive monitoring programme that included
Gas Sampling; Pressure Differential determinations and
Temperature Surveys carried out over many months
demonstrated the complexity of the challenge. The
following is a selection of trends from the fire affected A
Heading of the SL4 Panel during 2004.
Sample Point 3 is located on the goaf side of the seal in
SL4 A Heading between the mine workings and the fire
affected area. Sample Point 12 is located a further 5 pillars
(~500m) towards the fire affected area. It is located within
1 pillar (~100m) of a known secondary fire which was
encountered during the mine recovery process. It becomes
obvious that oxygen ingress is directly associated with
diurnal and synoptic barometric variations (Figure 2).
Barometric rises result in oxygen ingress that is
detected first at Sample Point 3 and then later at Sample
Point 12. At times the oxygen levels were >15% at a
location where a known ignition source was located. At no
time was the oxygen level below the desired 8%.
Figure 2 Oxygen % vs. barometric pressure
As a result of oxygen ingress into this area it became
apparent that this was having an effect on the status of the
sealed goaf. The Air Free Carbon Monoxide Trend (Figure
3) initially detected a degree of reactivation of the fire
affected area which was then confirmed by raw Carbon
Monoxide gas atmosphere readings recorded when the
barometer fell.
The ingress of oxygen into the sealed goaf area in the
vicinity of a known fire was resulting in signs of
reactivation. Ingress of oxygen was largely due to
barometric fluctuations and exacerbated by a very slight
mine induced pressure differential.
3 The Solution – The Positive Pressure Chamber
The Austar Team decided that it would devise a strategy to
eliminate the risk of spontaneous combustion and
combustible gases within goaf areas. To do this, significant
innovations in mine ventilation practice have been
developed. These practices allow for proactive elimination

Figure 3 Air free co% & raw CO vs. barometer.
of not only spontaneous combustion but also explosion
risks within sealed goafs, such as affected the Sago Mine
in the United States (12 lives) on 2nd January, 2006.
The mechanism by which a quantity of air flows
through a seal and into the goaf is well understood. It is a
direct relationship between the pressure across the seal and
the resistance that it provides (i.e. how robust the seal or
the surrounding coal, floor, roof and sides are).
Q = (P/R)½
1/1.7
or Q = (P/R)
Where:
Q = Quantity (m3/s)
P = Pressure (Pa)
R = Resistance of the Seal (Ns2/m8)
chamber and maintained greater than that caused by mine
ventilation and barometric pressure differential, then it
would be impossible for flow to occur from the mine,
through the chamber and then into the goaf.
Therefore, if the Pressure (P) is zero or slightly positive
and maintained at this level then the Quantity (Q) of air
ingress to the goaf must be zero.
A design risk assessment was conducted on the
“positive pressure chamber”. This highlighted the need
for the pressure source to be an inert gas, such that if there
was leakage from the chamber into the goaf it would not
contain any oxygen. Available technology was reviewed
and a 70m3/hr Nitrogen Plant supplied by Air Liquide
Australia was sourced. This membrane technology has
been used in the underground coal mining industry with
the nitrogen injected directly into the goaf to try and dilute
oxygen that has leaked through seals at other operations.
The major advantage of the Air Liquide nitrogen plant
(Figure 4) was that it was capable of generating up to 7bar
pressure at the plant discharge point with the ability to
reticulate the nitrogen gas up to 8km from the unit. Given
that the pressure that needed to be maintained within the
chamber was the key innovation identified, the plant was
selected despite the very low volume of nitrogen generated
(70m3/hr = 0.02m3/s). All hazards associated with the
introduction of the nitrogen plant were addressed in the
(1)
operational risk assessment with procedures developed for
the installation, commissioning, running and maintenance
of the plant. Regular reviews and periodic risk assessments
were conducted at regular intervals.

Conventional mine ventilation strategy has been to

reduce this flow by erecting seals with high resistances to
try and reduce the amount of oxygen entering the goaf as
much as possible. The successful ACARP Project “C6002
Sealing, Monitoring and Low Flow Inertisation of a Goaf”
demonstrated the ingress of oxygen could be successfully
prevented and the release of flammable gases inhibited by
pressurizing the goaf. The Austar Coal Mine Team
deduced that if there was no pressure difference between
the mine and the goaf (across the seal), then it would be
impossible for there to be any flow.
This strategy eliminates all oxygen from entering the
goaf and thus eliminates the risk of spontaneous Figure 4 Air liquide 70m3/hr nitrogen plant.
combustion within the goaf or the potential for an
explosive mixture of gases to accumulate. As simple as this Increasing and maintaining the pressure in the pressure
initiative is, the approach does not perform part of chambers with an Inertisation Unit delivering a total of
traditional mine ventilation practice and is not known to 70m3/hr prevented the ingress of air and the fire zone was
have been used ever before. The main reasons for this are: effectively neutralised.
ƒ barometric pressure variations are very large and very
rapid
ƒ technology has not existed to enable these large 4 The Positive Pressure Chamber Effect
barometric variations to be countered. The positive pressure chamber initiative at Austar Coal
A pressure source equal or slightly higher in magnitude Mine has effectively eliminated one of the prescribed
to that caused by the barometric variation was required. identified major industry hazards. It is important to note
The solution was very simple. It was decided that if a that permission to mine was only granted after the
pressure source could be put into the already erected

173
Department of Primary Industries were completely
satisfied the Austar had demonstrated control of the
Spontaneous Combustion Sealed Area and that the risk of
another fire was at an acceptable level.
The issue of oxygen ingress into the fire affected sealed
goaf has been controlled and eliminated as can be seen
below. With oxygen ingress into the goaf eliminated an
inert state is always maintained, under which accelerated
oxidation (the precursor to spontaneous combustion) is
unable to occur. Comprehensive monitoring from the
mines atmospheric monitoring system within this sealed
goaf and comprehensive analysis of this monitoring data
prove that the risk has been eliminated.
Erection of the chambers at the seal sites had an impact
on the level of combustibles at Sample Point 12. However,
this alone was unable to reduce the effects of oxygen
ingress due to the diurnal and synoptic barometric
variations.
The impact of injecting the nitrogen into the chamber
and maintaining a positive pressure can be seen to have
had an immediate effect on the atmosphere at Sample point
12 (Figure 5). As can be seen the total level of
combustibles was dramatically reduced and maintained at
levels that do not pose an ongoing hazard to the mine
operations. This was achieved with less than 70m3/hr
(~0.02m3/s) of nitrogen.
Figure 5 Blackdamp compositions vs. total combustibles.
5 The Positive Pressure Chamber System
The results of pressurizing the chambers around the fire
affected sealed goaf with nitrogen were immediate and so
successful that it was recognised that a system could be
developed where a chamber would be installed at all seal
sites and pressurised during the mining process, thus
eliminating the ingress of oxygen into the goaf.
Considerable effort was made in the design of the
chamber seals (Figure 6) to further reduce the risk of
catastrophic seal failure. This included the erection of a
rated 5psi flexible seal on the goaf side of the chamber.
This 5psi seal has been designed to overcome significant
strata deformation common around active longwall panels
and responsible for damaging conventional goaf seals. The
outer seal was designed as a rated 20psi structural seal
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(Micon) with considerable active roof, floor and rib
secondary cable support installed to counter strata
convergence. In addition significant passive support was
also erected on both sides of the seal.
Nitrogen is injected into this chamber with provision to
inject directly into the goaf at all locations if required. The
quantity of nitrogen injected at each site is measured with
pressure and atmosphere monitoring available both within
the chamber and the goaf.
Figure 6 The positive pressure chamber design.
The erection of the two seals further reduces risk as the
catastrophic failure of one seal will not result in a system
failure. The chambers have been designed to have a
minimum length of 20m to eliminate the possibility of
airflow through the surrounding strata and into the goaf, as
is common around all conventional goaf seals.
To facilitate the injection of nitrogen at numerous
locations, a higher capacity 1936m3/hr Air Liquide Floxal
Unit (Figure 7) was acquired to manage spontaneous
combustion at the recommencement of longwall mining
operations.
Figure 7 The 1936m3/hr air liquide floxal unit
This provided the ability to pressurize chambers
installed in the Maingate behind the face of the adjacent
Longwall Block and at all tailgate seal sites (Figure 8).
This action effectively prevented the ingress of oxygen and
permitted the goaf to self inert in a reasonable time period.
The positive pressure chamber system has been applied
to the mining process with exceptional results. As a result
the issue of managing both an active and adjacent goaf
whilst undertaking mining operations has also been solved.
This has reduced the risk of a spontaneous combustion
event in an adjacent goaf and has significantly controlled
the risk of a spontaneous combustion event in an active
goaf.
Figure 8 Nitrogen injection sites.
An unanticipated but very significant benefit of the
positive pressure chamber system has been the effective
management of the active goaf during longwall recovery
and seal up. Whilst Austar Coal Mine does not have large
quantities of methane gas that would lead to an explosive
atmosphere, a quick and effective means of sealing a
completed longwall panel following equipment recovery is
critical in reducing the risk of an accelerated oxidization /
spontaneous combustion event. This also has the potential
to eliminate explosive atmospheres at other mine sites
during longwall seal-up. The following two trends show
the effectiveness of the low flow / high pressure
inertisation system in conjunction with the positive
pressure chambers during the extraction and seal up of
LWA1.
The status of the mine atmosphere in the immediate
tailgate of LWA1 is demonstrated by Figure 9 while Figure
10 demonstrates the status of the mine atmosphere in the
immediate Maingate of LWA1. The darker trend line
represents the percentage of air at these locations and the
lighter trend line represents the Total Impurities (or Non
Air in the Atmosphere) for these locations.
The “Cross Over” occurs shortly after the erection of
the Final Seal in both the Tailgate and Maingate roadways
(Figure 10). Within hours the atmosphere in the Goaf is
effectively inert.
Figure 9 Tailgate air vs. air free during panel seal-up.
With an inert atmosphere spontaneous combustion and
explosive atmosphere hazards have been eliminated. In
addition, over time (due to the detailed positive pressure
chamber seal designs) pressure is also able to be built up
within the goaf area and has confirmed findings of the
successful ACARP Project “C6002 Sealing, Monitoring
and Low Flow Inertisation of a Goaf”. This has further
175
Figure 10 Maingate air vs. air free during panel seal-up.
demonstrated that ingress of oxygen can be prevented and
the release of flammable gases inhibited by pressurizing
the goaf.
To date reliability of the system has been exceptional.
The Air Liquide supplied nitrogen inertisation units used
onsite have been running for 2 years now. In this time
availability and utilisation has been in excess of 99%.
Downtime has resulted primarily from power outages
affecting power supply to the units. The units require
minimal maintenance, are reliable and immediately report
faults to the OEM and the Austar Coal Mine permanently
manned control room.
In excess of 4568 bag samples of mine atmospheric
gases have been analysed through a Varian Gas
Chromatograph between September 2005 and February
2008 (over the last 29 months) with all sample results
independently analyzed. In addition, sample results have
also been taken every 75 minutes through the mines tube
bundle monitoring system for the same time period. The
results of this monitoring comprehensively reinforce the
major impact this initiative has had in eliminating the
safety risk of a spontaneous combustion event.
This new proactive method of preventing spontaneous
combustion in addition to advanced monitoring techniques
and First Response Hazard Specific Barriers has
effectively eliminated the risk of spontaneous combustion
within a sealed goaf at Austar Coal Mine. In addition,
proactive management of sealed and active goafs using low
flow nitrogen into pressure chambers to maintain a positive
pressure has eliminated typical reliance in explosion proof
or explosion resistance seals as the primary control.
6 Application of Risk Management Principles
There was no doubt that the risk of re-activating the
residual heatings in the sealed area was a very real and
clearly unacceptable risk. Traditionally sealing and
inertisation is based on reactive risk management
principles and the Austar Team decided to adopt the
proactive risk management logic championed by the
Minerals Industry Risk Management Guidelines.
 The major difference with this approach is that the
Hierarchy of Controls is expanded on by adopting Hazard
Specific Barriers for Prevention; Monitoring Barriers that
ensure Prevention strategies are in fact adequate and First
Response Barriers are in place (essentially the Trigger
Action Response Plans (TARP’s) that were developed
through risk assessment and statistical analysis on the
extensive monitoring database).
Formalized reviews were conducted at three (3)
monthly intervals with statistical analysis of the monitoring
data, geological hazard mapping and operational issues
considered prior to the issuance of an “Authority to Mine”
for the next three (3) Months.
The Risk assessment process used at Austar Coal Mine
can be summarized as follows:
ƒ Hazard identification
ƒ Identified hazards were evaluated with regard to
consequence. The probability of that consequence or
outcome was then assessed, assuming existing
controls to be effectively implemented
ƒ Risk ranking were derived
ƒ Additional controls were proposed for medium and
high risks and the hazards were re-evaluated to arrive
at a residual risk
Probability and consequence were assessed in
accordance with AS/NZS 4360:2004 and all risk
assessments were conducted in compliance with
MDG1010 and MDG1014.
Specific additional risks identified as a result of
implementation of the positive pressure chamber system
were associated largely with the reticulation of an inert gas
and change management procedures relating to the
quantity of nitrogen reticulated at each location. Both had a
low residual risk on implementation of hard and soft
Hazard Specific Barriers and there have been no issues or
incidences involving these hazards to date.
7 Cost of the Positive Pressure Chamber System
Infrastructure costs for the installation of the large
1936m3/hr Air Liquide nitrogen inertisation unit were AU
$250,000. This included the costs of power infrastructure,
mine reticulation system, civil works and communications
system.
The costs of leasing and running the 1936m3/hr Air
Liquide nitrogen inertisation unit is approximately AU
$0.07 per cubic meter of nitrogen. With continual running
of the system at full capacity annual costs including power
consumption is approximately AU $1.2 million.
Underground mine chambers cost AU $30,000 for each
site. This is approximately AU $5,000 dearer than erecting
a conventional seal and includes the cost of reticulation,
orifice plates and miscellaneous items associated with
pressure and atmospheric monitoring.
8 Summary
The success in maintaining positive pressure in the
chambers around the fire affected sealed goafs with a very
176
small 70m3/hr inertisation unit exceeded expectations. The
comprehensive monitoring results support the elimination
of a spontaneous combustion hazard with the
implementation and maintenance of the positive pressure
chambers. In addition there have been no issues, incidents
or potential incidents with the use of nitrogen as the inert
agent.
Prior to the use of the positive pressure chambers a risk
based approach determined that there was a very real and
immediate hazard posed by the fire affected goaf and that
the likelihood of reactivating the heating remained very
probable without the introduction of additional measures
due to the regular ingress of oxygen into this area as a
result of frequent barometric changes in pressure.
The consequence of a reactivated heating in addition to
the probable likelihood determined that a course of action
needed to be taken. Whilst conventional practice may have
seen the introduction of an inert gas into the immediate
goaf (which the mine was capable of providing) it was
quickly identified that the pressure changes experienced
with barometric swings would result in this inert gas being
largely ineffective as it would have been diluted with fresh
air.
The use of positive pressure chambers has effectively
eliminated one of the prescribed identified major industry
hazards. The innovation is simple and will set the
benchmark for managing the risk of spontaneous
combustion or explosive atmospheres within sealed goaf
areas in the underground coal mining industry.
This innovation also provides a potential solution to
those current issues relating to goaf seals posed by the
tragic events at Sago in the USA. The current industry
focus and approach appears to be following conventional
ventilation practice which is to enforce the building of
seals with higher ratings and capacities. Whilst this may
assist in reducing the likelihood of seal failure should an
explosion occur it does not remove the hazard which is the
ingress of oxygen into the goaf. The positive pressure
chamber is capable of preventing an explosive atmosphere
from occurring.
The positive pressure chamber system uses technology
readily available throughout Australia and materials
common to most underground coal mining operations.
Implementation of the system is simple with nitrogen
capable of being reticulated 8km at Austar Coal Mine. In
addition, although Austar Coal mine is one of the deepest
operating coal mines in Australia (+500m) this system was
implemented with little or no impact on the mining
operation.
Given the success at Austar Coal Mine and the ability
to eliminate a number of prescribed major hazards, the
positive pressure chamber innovation will have a
significant positive impact on underground coal mining
safety in Australia. Ongoing risks and hazards posed to our
people can now be eliminated.
9 Conclusions NSW Department of Primary Industries, 1997. Risk
Management Handbook for the Mining Industry
The positive pressure chamber system developed by the (MDG 1010), North Sydney.
Austar Team resulted from a strong desire to take a new NSW Department of Primary Industries, 1997. Guide To
approach to managing risk. The ability to eliminate the Reviewing A Risk Assessment Of Mine Equipment
hazards of spontaneous combustion, or for the formation of And Operations (MDG 1014), North Sydney.
an explosive mixture of gases within a sealed goaf caused Standards Association of Australia 2004. Australian
by oxygen entering these areas is understood to be a world standard: Risk Management, (AS4360-2004),
first innovation. Standards Australia, North Sydney.
The positive pressure chamber was first trailed in School of Mining Engineering, 2003. 3.1.3 Resistance of
September 2005. Further development of this idea has led Leakage Paths. Fluid Flow, Friction and Shock
to a systematic means of dealing with a large number of Losses, 2003, pg24, University of NSW
ventilation problems that affect many mining operations.
As a result of the implementation of the positive
pressure system recommencement of longwall operations
was achieved in September 2006. The system was closely
monitored and proven during extraction of longwall A1
during 2006 and 2007.
The Austar Team is confident that the proactive risk
management approach clearly demonstrates commitment
to the establishment and implementation of the Hazard
Specific Barriers of Prevention; Effective Monitoring and
First Response and that Safe Production can and will be
achieved.
Whilst the system is unique to Austar Coal Mine it is
believed that similar benefits can be made at other coal
mine operations throughout the world through the
implementation of a similar system.
This will set the benchmark for managing the risk of
spontaneous combustion or explosive atmospheres within
sealed goaf areas in the underground coal mining industry.
This can only have a positive impact on the health, safety
and wellbeing of our fellow mineworkers.

Acknowledgements
Permission from Yancoal Australia Pty Ltd and Austar
Coal Mine to publish this paper is gratefully
acknowledged.

References
Brady, J P., Personal Communication, January 2007
Cliff, D., Rowlands, D., Sleeman, J., 1996, Spontaneous
Combustion in Australian Underground Coal Mines,
(SIMTARS), Redbank Australia.
Cook Resource Mining Ltd. 1997, ACARP Project C6002
Sealing, Monitoring and Low Flow Inertisation of a
Goaf, 1997, (Australian Coal Association Research
Program)
Joncris Sentinel Services. 2005-2007, Sentinel System
Mine Atmosphere Interpretation, Austar Coal Mine
site reports, 2005 – 2007, Joncris Sentinel Services
Joseph, S, 2005.(Air Liquide Australia) AMSA Floxal
nitrogen generator in underground inerting
applications (31st International Conference of Safety
In Mines Research Institute) Brisbane, Australia

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