Methane emissions from ventilation and degasification systems of hard coal mines in Poland in the years 2001–2010

Summarising the statistics of the Annual Report... (2002-2011), it can be stated that between 2001 and 2010 the number of and output from operating hard coal mines in the Polish hard coal mining industry experienced a considerable decrease. Coal output of 102.78 · 106Mg was reduced to 76.15 · 106 Mg. The exploitation of seams was realised in 43 mines in 2001, but because of closures and the merging of mines this fell to 29 by 2010. There were 30 CoalMineMethane (CMM) mines in 2001 producing coal at a level of 72.37 · 106 Mg, falling to 21 mines producing 52.18 · 106 Mg of coal by 2010. In spite of this drop in coal production and the decreasing number of mines in the Upper Silesian Coal Basin (USCB) in Poland, methane emissions from coal exploitation processes in CMM mines since 2001 increased by about 50 m3/Mg by 2010. Over time, efforts at methane drainage have priduced positive effects. Every year, the quantity of methane captured by methane drainage systems and the quantity of utilised methane increases. The National Greenhouse Inventory (NEIC) 2007, published in 2009, showed there was no detailed data concerningmethane emissions from collieries in the Polishmining industry. It was therefore necessary to study and meticulously calculatemethane emissions inmethane coalmines of the USCB in Poland. The appliedmethodology for estimating methane emissions from the USCB coal mining industry considered the two basic sources of its emission ? methane emissions during the mining process and ventilation emission and drainage systems emissions. Such an approach resulted from the Intergovemmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) guidelines of 2006. Updating the proposed methods (IPCC 2006) of estimating methane emissions from ventilation systems and degasification systems of hard coal mines (those active and abandoned) in Poland assumes the methane emission factor (EF) is calculated on the basis of methane coal mine output and actual values of methane emisions. Modifying the method of estimating methane emissions during the mining process for Polish coal mines resulted in the equation of methane emissions factor EF. Despite a decrease in coal production between 2001 and 2010, since 2008 the average emission factor from the hard coal industry remains steady at a level of approximately 10 m3 CH4/Mg. The obtained summary results of calculating methane emissions in the Polish coal mining industry throughout the analysed period are from 402-462 Gg (avg. 441.45 Gg).