The stage analysis and countermeasures of coal spontaneous combustion based on “five stages” division

The “three stages” division of coal spontaneous combustion is fuzzy and lacks adequate risk and warning levels corresponding to its divisions; additionally, the targeted prevention measures for each stage have not been described. To address the shortcomings of the “three stages” division, the “five stages” division was proposed to more clearly analyze the stage changes of the spontaneous combustion of coal. The “five stages” method divides the process of the spontaneous combustion of coal into five stages, including: the latent stage, heat accumulating stage, evaporation stage, active stage, and hypoxic stage. The critical point of each stage was determined using adiabatic oxidation experiments and programmed heat experiments. As the critical point of the latent stage, the temperature of zero activation energy is approximately 55–70°C. In the heat accumulating stage, the critical point is the temperature (approximately 90°C) where the external moisture of coal evaporates violently while the internal moisture of coal has not yet fully evaporated. During the evaporation stage, the temperature (approximately 105°C) where the internal moisture has evaporated completely represents the end of this stage and the start of the active stage (105–170°C). When the oxygen concentration drops to 5%, the spontaneous combustion of coal enters the hypoxic stage. Thus, an oxygen concentration of 5% represents the critical point of the start of the hypoxic stage (above 170°C). After the analysis of each stage, risk and warning levels were determined. Considering the major prevention measures of the spontaneous combustion of coal, a staged warning and disposal table was created.