METHOD FOR EXTRACTING METHANE FROM COAL SEAMS Russian patent published in 1999 - IPC

FIELD: mining industry. SUBSTANCE: method actually relates to underground mining of outburst-risky and very gassy coal seams. According to method, bore-holes are drilled from ground surface towards gas-bearing coal seam. Bore-holes are connected to vacuum pipeline and methane is pumped out. Preliminarily selected are geodynamic blocks as sections with uniform geological structure. Difference in height between them is characterized by following relation: h ≥ 0.1 (Hmax - Hmin), where Hmax and Hmin - absolute maximal and minimal heights of ground surface relief respectively without taking account of intrusion of river valleys. Boundaries of geodynamic blocks are determined according to maps of terrain. Drilling of bore-holes is performed in zones of stretching of coal-bearing mass with respect to aforesaid boundaries. Application of aforesaid method ensures higher efficiency in recovery of methane from coal seams due to drilling bore-holes in most gassed sections of coal seams. EFFECT: higher efficiency. 5 cl, 1 dwg