Due to insufficient space in International Mining‘s safety article in June, we were unable to include news of Inbye Mining Services’ methane drainage equipment. The company designs and manufactures different types of gas plants; managing all aspects of site preparation, installation, commissioning and decommissioning, as well as rehabilitation. It supplies two main styles of plant: the ‘free flow plant’ that vents methane to the atmosphere and the ‘gas engine plant’, which burns the methane in a suitably specified gas engine and uses the power generated to run gas well extraction fans as well as ancillary services.
The company says “Where there is no opportunity to harness the methane gas for gas engine or pipeline use, we provide economical and reliable free flow systems that incorporate an approved free flow methane stack. Our technology facilitates the production of [these] stacks that have proven to be the most effective method of reducing methane content in rapidly moving longwall faces.
“The design has yielded good life expectancy in highly corrosive environments. All equipment is of robust construction and fully galvanised. Our complete methane gas package includes all pipe work, isolation and actuator valves, flame arrestors, pressure relief valves, fire suppression, earthing and lightning arrestor.”
Engines in the plants are able to run reliably on relatively low concentrations of methane and provide a service life of 10,000 hours before major maintenance. Methane drainage plants can be connected by radio telemetry to the mine central control room to monitor and record the gas pressure and methane concentration, providing warnings if these exceed pre-set safety parameters.
Inbye: “The fixed systems are set-up for operation on the surface over a protracted period with a moderate amount of surface infrastructure. The Inbye sled mounted units consist of all essential components of the gas engine, fans and monitoring equipment mounted on a trailable sled for ease of movement between borehole sites.”
AERO Drilling and Consulting specialises in drilling in shallow operations. Using a specially equipped rig, AERO optimises its coal bed methane operations by staying mobile; being able to drill several locations with one rig. The entire operation is completed with one self-propelled, fully equipped, mobile, mounted trailer – only one bed truck is required to move the entire substructure and the whole operation is available to move in five loads.
AERO: “The rig is fully capable of running range three casing, run with a top head drive unit which ensures that the casing will be properly torqued. Top drives are proven to be safe, speedy and efficient. Also included in our portable coal bed methane outfit is a vac truck and water truck which results in a significant decrease in rig downtime.”
“Air drilling is a proven, effective method of drilling coal bed methane as the use of air means less chemicals are used. With air there is also a decrease in pay zone contamination and the amount of water required on the project (an advantage when dealing with ‘water sensitive’ areas).”