Coal mine methane

High concentration methane

Geotech has a range of analysers which can be used to monitor the gas extracted during mining, as well as assist in process and plant control. Coal bed methane, when directly drilled for, is released in high concentrations, which allows it to be used as a source of energy as opposed to becoming a harmful greenhouse gas emission. Measuring the quality of the methane being extracted is beneficial, particularly for carbon credit purposes and CDM projects.

Low concentration methane

Methane released from the worked coal face is diluted and removed by large ventilation systems so that the mixture does not become dangerous. The concentration of this ventilation air methane (VAM) is low, but the vast quantity of it has implications for greenhouse gas emissions. Systems are now developed to mitigate this through oxidisation and destruction of the VAM, and Geotech has designed methane analysis instrumentation specifically for this.