Precision gas monitoring for methane drainage

摘要

Draining methane through boreholes ahead of coal mining offers many benefits including environmental, safety and economic. However, in order to sell the gas to the utility, there must be continuous, precise analysis to assure high quality methane, with very little air intrusion. Sensors must read out 0-100% methane and 0-10% oxygen to a tight 1% tolerance - with long term accuracy - unattended. A high precision gas monitoring system was developed by Rel-Tek and installed at a remote borehole site - US Steel's Oak Grove Mine near Adger, Alabama. The paper describes this unique monitoring system and presents performance results showing the accuracy and stability requirements were met.