On 21st-23th October 2015 the Central Mining Institute held a plenary meeting of the ISO Technical Committee on. methane from coal seams (ISO / TC 263 "Coalbed Methane").
Delegates from four countries participated in the meeting − China (PetroChina Company Limited), Germany (DMT and RWTH) and Poland - Central Mining Institute (GIG) and Polish Committee for Standardization (PKN). It was the fourth plenary meeting of this Committee, and the first one in Poland. The previous meeting took place in 2014 in China. Representatives form seven countries are involved in ISO/TC 263 works: England, China, Germany, India, Japan, Poland and South Africa. Dr. Eng. Henryk Koptoń is Polish representative and represents the Central Mining Institute.
The level of co-occurring natural hazards in Polish coal mines has been continuously raising, and the threat of methane is one of the most dangerous of them. This is caused by systematically increasing depth of exploitation of coal, increasing methane content (methane bearing capacity), pressure rock masses, tendency to combustion and a number of other threats. Currently, nearly 80% of extraction is obtained from seams classified as methane bearing. Therefore, it is important to recognize methane and its commercial use as an energy source, both in terms of the safety of mining operations and environmental protection.
The standardization activities of the Committee currently involve two working groups related to the exploration and extraction of methane from coal seams (WG1 "Fundamentals of Coalbed Methane Exploration" and WG2 "Underground CBM"). Dr. Henry Koptoń is an expert for WG1 and WG2, approved by the ISO Technical Committee. A number of projects have been finished so far, among others: a development project of a new international standard for determining methane bearing capacity level of coal beds. It is much more accurate and will significantly improve the measurements of methane and methane hazard forecasting - says Dr. Eng. Henryk Koptoń. We are currently working on a development of new standards for, among others, determining the carbon adsorption capacity using the volumetric method, and transport safety of mine gas with low concentration of methane in the form of a two-phase mixture of gas and water.
During the meeting the delegates presented information on mining of methane from coal seams in Germany, Poland and China. The Committee also decided to start cooperation with United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) and Global Methane Initiative (GMI).
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