Mining Engineering Commons^™

Development Of Univariate And Multivariate Forecasting Models For Methane Gas Emissions In Underground Coal Mines, Juan Diaz

Theses and Dissertations--Mining Engineering

Methane gas management continues to be a challenge concerning underground coal mine safety and productivity worldwide despite the extraordinary effort of the mining industry, governmental agencies, and academia to develop new technologies to monitor and control methane gas emissions more efficiently. The risk of hazardous methane gas concentrations in underground environments cannot be underestimated. Statistical data for the last 100 years indicate that around 80% of the accidents and 90% of the fatalities in the underground coal mining industry in the US were related to methane gas explosions.

Modern underground mine operations monitor and evaluate atmospheric parameters such as barometric …

Managing And Utilizing Big Data In Atmospheric Monitoring Systems For Underground Coal Mines, Juan Diaz, Zach Agioutantis, Dionissios T. Hristopulos, Steven Schafrik

Mining Engineering Faculty Publications

Underground coal mining Atmospheric Monitoring Systems (AMS) have been implemented for real-time or near real-time monitoring and evaluation of the mine atmosphere and related parameters such as gas concentration (e.g., CH₄, CO, O₂), fan performance (e.g., power, speed), barometric pressure, ambient temperature, humidity, etc. Depending on the sampling frequency, AMS can collect and manage a tremendous amount of data, which mine operators typically consult for everyday operations as well as long-term planning and more effective management of ventilation systems. The raw data collected by AMS need considerable pre-processing and filtering before they can be used for …

Evaluating And Enhancing Iron Removal Via Filterable Iron Precipitates Formation During Coal-Waste Bioleaching, Prasenjit Podder, Zongliang Zhang, Rick Q. Honaker, Michael L. Free, Prashant K. Sarswat

Mining Engineering Faculty Publications

Iron removal via jarosite precipitate formation is a commonly used technique in various hydrometallurgical processes. Excess iron removal often becomes essential to an overall metal recovery circuit. This is particularly important to processes involving iron-bearing minerals. A technique, which involved the use of pyrite to generate acid for leaching, for iron removal is critical to enabling the process. Iron removal using CaO or similar reagents is expensive and often results in lost product. In the present study, various compounds that facilitate jarosite formation, namely Na₂SO₄, NH₄OH, KCl, and KOH, were utilized and their effect …

Parametric Analysis Of Rib Pillar Stability In A Longitudinal Sublevel Open Stoping Operation In An Underground Copper Mine In Southern Africa, Kostas Kaklis, Zacharias Agioutantis, Munyindei Masialeti, Jerome Yendaw, Thierry Bineli Betsi

Mining Engineering Faculty Publications

The pillar stability factor (PSF) is calculated in three different mining stages for a sublevel open stoping mining project located in northern Botswana. Several three-dimensional finite element models were developed by varying the stope span. Pillar strength was estimated using the Lunder and Pakalnis equation and pillar stress was obtained from the numerical models. As mining progresses, both the first and second mining stages meet the rib pillar stability factor requirement for safe extraction. Geometrical improvements are suggested in the mining layout for the third mining stage to achieve the required PSF, which is based on international practices.

Data Management System For A Semiautonomous Shuttle Car For Underground Room And Pillar Coal Mines, Vasilis Androulakis, Steven Schafrik, Joseph Sottile, Zacharias Agioutantis

Mining Engineering Faculty Publications

In recent years, autonomous solutions in the multidisciplinary field of mining engineering have been an extremely popular applied research topic. This is a result of the increasing demands of society on mineral resources along with the accelerating exploitation of the currently economically viable resources, which lead the mining sector to turn to deeper, more-difficult-to-mine orebodies. An appropriate data management system comprises a crucial aspect of the designing and the engineering of a system that involves autonomous or semiautonomous vehicles. The vast volume of data collected from onboard sensors, as well as from a potential IoT network dispersed around a smart …

Application Of Eh-Ph Diagrams On Acid Leaching Systems For The Recovery Of Rees From Bastnaesite, Monazite And Xenotime, Peijia Lin, Xinbo Yang, Joshua M. Werner, Rick Q. Honaker

Mining Engineering Faculty Publications

Bastnaesite, monazite and xenotime are rare earth minerals (REMs) that are typical sources for rare earth elements (REEs). To advance the understanding of their leaching and precipitation behavior in different hydrometallurgical processes, Eh-pH diagrams were constructed and modified using the HSC 9.9 software. The aqueous stability of rare earth elements in H₂O and acid leaching systems, i.e., the REE-Ligands-H₂O systems, were depicted and studied based on the Eh-pH diagrams. This study considers the most relevant lixiviants, their resulting equilibrium states and the importance in the hydrometallurgical recovery of rare earth elements (REMs). A literature review was …

Experimental And Numerical Investigation Of The Effect Of Integration Of A Flooded-Bed Scrubber Into A Longwall Shearer On Airflow Along A Coal Mine Longwall Face, Sampurna Arya, Thomas Novak, Joseph Sottile

Mining Engineering Faculty Publications

Dust control is one of the most difficult challenges for underground coal mine operators, especially longwall mine operators. The most widely used dust control technologies at a longwall section are ventilation air and water sprays, whereas a continuous miner section has the added advantage of having a dust scrubber built into the continuous miner. To test the potential benefits of integrating a flooded-bed scrubber into a longwall shearer, the authors designed and built a dust scrubber system for a full-scale mock-up of a longwall shearer. The mock-up was installed in the longwall test gallery at the Pittsburgh Research Laboratory (PRL) …

Laboratory Determination Of Coal Dust Cleaning Efficacy Of A Fibrous Filter For Flooded-Bed Dust Scrubber, Neeraj Gupta, Ashish Ranjan Kumar, Steven Schafrik

Mining Engineering Faculty Publications

Fibrous-type dust filters are used in flooded-bed dust scrubbers to capture dust from underground room and pillar mining atmospheres. They have 10–30 layers of finely woven strands that trap particles through the interception and impaction process. A full-cone water spray is installed upstream of the filter, which floods the screen. A scrubber’s efficacy is usually measured and reported in terms of reduction in gravimetric dust concentration at a known location in a mine. This paper reports the particle-size-dependent dust removal efficiency of a fibrous filter obtained from an instrumented test-set up. A variable frequency drive and an inline flow control …

Blowing Curtain Face Ventilation System For Extended Cut Mining Using Passive Regulator, Andrzej M. Wala, Todor P. Petrov

Mining Engineering Faculty Patents

A ventilation system for an underground mine includes a blowing curtain, a passive regulator in a shape of an airfoil and an airflow ventilation source. The passive regulator is positioned in the air path adjacent a discharge end of the blowing curtain.

A Methodology For Autonomous Roof Bolt Installation Using Industrial Robotics, Anastasia Xenaki

Theses and Dissertations--Mining Engineering

The mining sector is currently in the stage of adopting more automation, and with it, robotics. Autonomous bolting in underground environments remains a hot topic for the mining industry. Roof bolter operators are exposed to hazardous conditions due to their proximity to the unsupported roof, loose bolts, and heavy spinning mass. Prolonged exposure to the risk inevitably leads to accidents and injuries.

The current thesis presents the development of a robotic assembly capable of carrying out the entire sequence of roof bolting operations in full and partial autonomous sensor-driven rock bolting operations to achieve a high-impact health and safety intervention …

Modeling Of Rare Earth Solvent Extraction Process For Flowsheet Design And Optimization, Vaibhav Kumar Srivastava

Theses and Dissertations--Mining Engineering

The separation and purification of rare earth elements (REEs) into individual products has been a topic of significant interest for researchers and engineers for many decades. The prime reason for such sustained interest is due to REEs’ demand and application in modern technology, as well as the challenges associated with their separation and purification. The chemical similarity of rare earth group elements is responsible for difficult separability which makes purification of individual elements challenging. Despite associated complications, processes such as solvent extraction (SX) and ion-exchange have been successfully utilized in the separation and production of REEs on pilot and commercial …

Investigation Of Coal Burst Potential Using Numerical Modeling And Rock Burst Indices, Cristian David Cardenas Triana

Theses and Dissertations--Mining Engineering

Coal bursts are typically defined as a rapid failure of coal or surrounding rock producing a violent release of energy and ejection of rock particles. This phenomenon is extremely complex and dynamic, and this has made it very difficult to predict. In the last decades, different researchers have aimed to understand the sources and mechanisms of failure of coal bursts. Various indices have been developed to assess the burst potential such as the Burst Potential Index (BPI), Energy Storage Rate, and the Strain Energy Density. Lately, numerical modeling has also been used as a tool to examine the rock deformation …

An Approach For Predicting Flow Characteristics At The Continuous Miner Face, Kayla Henderson

Theses and Dissertations--Mining Engineering

As coal and rock are mined, dust is dispersed into the air. This dust, among other contaminants, poses a serious health and safety risk to mineworkers. Very fine dust known as respirable dust can infiltrate the deepest part of the lungs, and long-term exposure to these particles leads to a disease called coal worker’s pneumoconiosis (CWP). Occurrence of this disease declined steadily over the latter half of the 20^th century; however, a recent study indicates that CWP has reemerged with an upward trend beginning at the turn of the century. To combat dust exposure, mine operators use a combination …

Application Of A Novel Ventilation Simplification Algorithm, Caitlin V. Strong

Theses and Dissertations--Mining Engineering

Ventilation network analysis is an integral part of maintaining a safe mine environment. Despite its important role, liberties are often taken with the representation of networks in ventilation network analysis software. In order to provide an alternative to heuristic methods used by ventilation engineers, a simplification algorithm has been developed. This algorithm is designed to work as a compliment to ventilation software. Comparisons of original ventilation networks and simplified networks show little to no change in fan operating point. The program utilizing this algorithm provides an alternative to reducing networks with a parallel factor. It can also be used in …

Capture Of Respirable Dust Using Maintenance Free Impingement Screen, Neeraj Kumar Gupta

Theses and Dissertations--Mining Engineering

Dust produced during mining activities has a detrimental effect on both miners’ health and operations’ safety. There is no definitive treatment for coal miners’ pneumoconiosis (CWP), which is caused by prolonged inhalation of respirable dust. Elevated coal dust concentrations have also been shown to cause several disastrous explosions in the United States and worldwide, resulting in the death of miners and loss of operations. Flooded-bed dust scrubbers are used on all modern-day continuous miners. These devices cleanse the dust-laden air and assist in bringing fresh air towards the mining face. Scrubbers use a multi-layered fibrous screen to capture airborne particles. …

Concepts For Development Of Shuttle Car Autonomous Docking With Continuous Miner Using 3-D Depth Camera, Sibley Miller

Theses and Dissertations--Mining Engineering

In recent years, a great deal of work has been conducted in automating mining equipment with the goals of increasing worker health and safety and increasing mine productivity. Automating vehicles such as load-haul-dumps been successful even in underground environments where the use of global positioning systems are unavailable. This thesis addresses automating the operation of a shuttle car, specifically focusing on positioning the shuttle car under the continuous miner coal-discharge conveyor during cutting and loading operations. This task requires recognition of the target and precise control of the tramming operation because a specific orientation and distance from the coal discharge …

Oxidation Pretreatment For Enhanced Leachability Of Rare Earth Elements From Bituminous Coal Sources, Tushar Gupta

Theses and Dissertations--Mining Engineering

Rare earth elements (REEs) are critical components in advanced electronics, clean energy technologies, and national energy and economic security. The global supply situation of these strategically valuable elements remains critical as the market is largely monopolistic. Thus, to alleviate the dependence on global imports, investments are being made in the research and development of innovative and cost-effective technologies for the indigenous processing and recovery of REEs from alternate sources that are cheap and abundant. Numerous research findings have identified potential benefits and proven the technological feasibility of extracting and selectively concentrating REEs from coal byproducts such as preparation plant rejects …

Geochemistry, Petrology, And Palynology Of The Princess No. 3 Coal, Greenup County, Kentucky, Madison M. Hood, Cortland F. Eble, James C. Hower, Shifeng Dai

Center for Applied Energy Research Faculty and Staff Publications

The high volatile C bituminous-rank, Bolsovian-age Princess No. 3 coal, a correlative of the heavily-mined Hazard No. 7 coal and the Peach Orchard and Coalburg Lower Split coals, was investigated three sites at a mine in Greenup County, Kentucky. The coal exhibits a “dulling upwards” trend, with decreasing vitrinite and a greater tendency towards dull clarain and bone lithotypes towards the top of the coal. The relatively vitrinite-rich basal lithotype is marked by a dominance of lycopod tree spores. The palynology transitions upwards to a middle parting co-dominated by tree fern and small lycopod spores and an upper bench dominated …

Rare Earth-Bearing Particles In Fly Ash Carbons: Examples From The Combustion Of Eastern Kentucky Coals, James C. Hower, John G. Groppo Jr.

Center for Applied Energy Research Faculty and Staff Publications

Graphitic carbons from the combustion of bituminous coals and, perhaps, other coal ranks, tend to capture iron and a number of hazardous elements, including As, Hg, and Se. Rare earth elements in fly ashes occur in minerals, such as monazite, xenotime, and davidite. They also occur in sub-nm particles, probably in a mineral form, within the Al–Si glass on the investigated fly ashes. Just as graphitic carbons can capture Fe and hazardous elements, the carbons surrounding the fly ash glass and magnetic particles captures or encapsulates a broad suite of rare earth elements.

Leaching Kinetics Of Rare Earth Elements From Fire Clay Seam Coal, Xinbo Yang, Rick Q. Honaker

Mining Engineering Faculty Publications

Recovery of rare earth elements (REEs) from coal samples collected from the Fire Clay coal seam using diluted mineral acid solutions was investigated. The initial processing step was coal recovery using conventional froth flotation which concentrated the REEs in tailing material resulting in an upgrade to values around 700 ppm on a dry whole mass basis. Leaching experiments were performed on the flotation tailings material using a 1.2 M sulfuric acid solution adjusted to a temperature of 75 °C to study the extractability of REEs from coal material. The effect of particle size, leaching time, leaching temperature, and solid concentration …

Predicting Fracture Extension Around A Borehole Using The Numerical Displacement Discontinuity Method, Nathaniel Schaefer

Theses and Dissertations--Mining Engineering

Prediction of blast damage radius is integral in the optimization of mining safety and production. The damage radius can be related to blasting variables such as fragmentation size as well as overbreak in hard rock. Various methods have been developed to predict and assess damage radius extension for individual holes to aid in blast design. These methods range from experimental and observational techniques to theoretical applications. Some of these methods have been used with a degree of success. However, many of them lack a comprehensive combination of experimental and theoretical contributions. Since post-blast environments are not conducive to assessing whether …

Proof Of Concept For The Development Of A Ground Vibration Sensor System For Future Research In Blasting, John Meuth

Theses and Dissertations--Mining Engineering

Ground vibrations from blasting are one of the leading limitations to mining (underground and surface). There is a need for a low-cost scalable vibration monitoring system to conduct large scale ground vibration projects in the mining industry. Studies conducted on ground vibrations use any number of different sensors to obtain their data, the different sensor capabilities and methods for data processing lead to uncertainties in the research and regulations set for ground vibrations. Commercial Systems do not allow researchers to obtain raw output data, and the data processing procedures are not provided or disclosed for these systems. In order to …

The Effect Of Delay And Sequence On Blasting Fragmentation Results, Tristan Worsey

Theses and Dissertations--Mining Engineering

Blasters use the delay between charges and the firing sequence of the explosive charges to help reduce vibrations and achieve the desired fragmentation. Although delay and sequence are recognized as very important for vibrations and fragmentation, only vibration models consider timing as a variable in the prediction tool, without any known model for fragmentation prediction based on the delay sequence. Of the few fragmentation models available, very few take delay into account and do not give guidance on row delay and/or sequence selections. With the invention of electronic detonators in 1984, there are new avenues to explore with sequence and …

Characterization Of Rare Earth Elements In The Illinois Basin Coals, Alireza Valian

Theses and Dissertations--Mining Engineering

The purpose of this study is to characterize the distribution and occurrence of rare earth elements (REEs) in the coal and coal-related material from the Illinois Basin. For characterizing the distribution of REEs, 17 core samples were investigated from various parts in the basin. Also, several individual samples from coal preparation plants and isolated geological occurrences were included in the study. In result, the average REE concentrations were calculated on a bed-to-bed basis, although the distribution of REEs in the coal beds was found laterally and vertically heterogeneous. A number of trends were found that describe the variations. Most importantly, …

Investigation Into Mine Pillar Design And Global Stability Using The Ground Reaction Curve Concept, Ravi Chandan Ray

Theses and Dissertations--Mining Engineering

Pillars form an important support structure in any underground mine. A bulk of the overburden load is borne by the mine pillars. Thus, the strength of pillars has been a subject of detailed research over more than 6 decades. This work has led to the development of largely empirical pillar design formulations that have reduced the risk of pillar failures and mine collapse. Current research, however, has drawn attention to the fact that some of the assumptions used in the development of conventional pillar design methodologies are not always valid. Conventional pillar design methodology assumes that the pillars carry the …

Numerical Approximation Of The Ground Reaction And Support Reaction Curves For Underground Limestone Mines, Jesus Castillo Gomez

Theses and Dissertations--Mining Engineering

Pillar stability has been a matter of study for the last 70 years. The determination of pillar strength had taken different solutions and approaches over that time. This research has led to numerous empirical formulations that have reduced the number of pillar failures worldwide. However, new numerical approaches are being studied. In the last 20 years, the Ground Reaction Curve concept has been examined as a way of understanding the convergence of the rock-mass. Although the Ground Reaction Curve was first introduced in the civil tunneling industry, several authors have introduced the Ground Reaction Curve concept as an approach for …

Using Numerical Models Of Dewatering At Coal Ash Impoundments To Understand Cost And Schedule, Peter Bell, Joel Thompson, Don Fuller

World of Coal Ash Proceedings

No abstract provided.

Investigating Ccr Units And Evaluating The Physical Properties Of Ponded Ccr, David Skeggs, Zahra Aghazadeh, Rachel Combs

World of Coal Ash Proceedings

No abstract provided.

Demonstration Of “No Migration” Alternative Performance Standard For Ccr Facilities In Arid To Semi- Arid Regions Using Unsaturated Zone Modeling, James Aiken, Katy Lindstom

World of Coal Ash Proceedings

No abstract provided.

Coal Combustion Residuals Management Using Geotextile Containers- Considerations For Various Options, Randall Wilcox, Gregg Lebster, Bryan Hamilton, Thomas Stephens

World of Coal Ash Proceedings

No abstract provided.