The Effect of Moisture in Air

on the Spontaneous Combustion

Characteristics of Coal

Ma Dong1,2,3 and Qin Botao1,2,3(&)

1
Key Laboratory of Coal Methane and Fire Control, Ministry of Education,
China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou 221116, China
{madongcumt,qbt2003}@163.com
2
Faculty of Safety Engineering, China University of Mining and Technology,
Xuzhou, Jiangsu 221116, China
3
State Key Laboratory of Coal Resources and Mine Safety, China University
of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou Jiangsu 221008, China

Abstract. This study evaluated the effects of moisture in air on spontaneous

combustion characteristics of coal. Air with four relative humidities (dry air, 30,
60 and 100%) were used in the study. The crossing point temperature (CPT) and
oxidation products were measured using a customized spontaneous combustion
system. The results showed that the CPT values were determined to be 153, 151,
150 and 148 °C under four humidities, respectively. The concentration of
oxidation productions increased with the increase of air humidity. The thermal
characteristics of coal were also studied using thermogravimetry and differential
scanning calorimeter (TG-DSC) methods. It was found that the second peak of
heat flow appeared to be 417.28, 411.25, 402.64 and 385.68 °C, respectively
under four different humidities. As a consequence, the water adsorbed had
expedited the coal oxidation to the next stage.

Keywords: Coal spontaneous combustion
Humidity
Oxidation products

TG-DSC

1 Introduction

Air humidity is one of the important factors causing spontaneous combustion of coal,
which have been researched over a long period [1]). Because of the influence of
underground water, earth’s surface water and rainfall, ordinary air can have high and
can fluctuate depending on the surrounding environment. In China, the underground air
humidity of some mines could reach as high as 95%, such as Xin’an Coal Mine, where
spontaneous combustion can occur frequently.
Many investigators have researched on the effects of air humidity on spontaneous
combustion of coal and a number of works have been published. Scott studied the
effects of moisture on spontaneous heating of sub-bituminous. The experiments results
demonstrated the importance of humidity in spontaneous heating of coal [2]. Bhat and
Agarwal [3] took a single isothermal particle as a research object, to simulate the effect

© Science Press and Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2019

X. Chang (ed.), Proceedings of the 11th International Mine Ventilation Congress,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-1420-9_44
 The Effect of Moisture in Air on the Spontaneous Combustion … 519

of relative humidity of air on spontaneous combustion of coal. The results showed that
higher relative humidities favor spontaneous combustion.
The water vapor in the atmosphere is absorbed by coal particles from ambient
atmosphere and release heat in the process of condensation under appropriate condi-
tions [4]. The rate and amount of heat release by sorption of water vapor is much more
than by coal oxidation [5], which can raise the temperature of coal particles and
contribute to the process of coal self-heating [6]. However, A. Küçük et al. attained the
contradictory experimental results, which stated that with the reduction of air humidity,
the liability of spontaneous combustion of lignite was increased [7].
In general, the effects of humidity on coal spontaneous combustion characteristics
is not completely understood. Most previous investigations state the sorption of water
vapor can affect the propensity of coal spontaneous combustion, although the extent of
which is unclear, especially when the humidities in the environment change. In this
paper the crossing point temperature, oxidation products, and thermal characteristics of
coal under different humidities are measured, and their effects on coal spontaneous
combustion characteristics are evaluated.

2 Experimental

2.1 Materials Preparation

A gas-fat coal sample was collected from Xin’an Coal Mine in China, then sealed it and
sent to the laboratory. According to the ASTM standards (ASTM D2013-72), the coal
sample was stored in an oxygen-free vacuum box after stripping the oxidation layer.
Next, the sizes of coal particles in the ranges of 0.18–0.38 mm and 0.096–0.15 mm
were sieved and dried at 40 °C for 48 h to remove the moisture of coal sample. After
that, coal samples were placed in a vacuum bag at room temperature to be used in the
experiment. Table 1 lists the proximate and ultimate analysis of coal samples used. Dry
air and humid air with 30, 60, 100% relative humidities (RH) supplied by Huazhong
Gas Co., Ltd. were stored in the bottle at room temperature ready to be used in the
study.

Table 1. Analyses of coal sample used

Coal sample Proximate analysis, wt% Ultimate analysis, wt% (air-dry
(air-dry basis) basis)
Moisture Ash VM FC C H N S O
Xin’an gas-fat coal 2.31 13.10 31.01 53.59 78.41 4.99 1.31 0.83 14.46

2.2 Measurement of Crossing Point Temperature(CPT)and Oxidation

Products
The CPT and oxidation products were measured by a customize-designed spontaneous
combustion system, which consists of preheating tube, coal reaction vessel,
520 M. Dong and Q. Botao

temperature logger, programed temperature enclosure and gas chromatograph (Fig. 1).
The gas chromatograph was used to measure the oxidation products such as CO, CO2,
C2H4, C2H6, etc.

Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of the self-designed spontaneous combustion system

Before the experiment, 50 g (±0.01 g) of coal sample in the range of 0.18–

0.38 mm was weighted by electronic balance and placed in the coal reaction vessel.
Then the programed temperature enclosure was turned on and run at a constant ambient
temperature for 1 h. Next, the programed temperature enclosure was set to run at
0.8 °C/min and the dry air or moist air prepared was flowing into the coal reaction at a
flow rate of 100 mL/min. During the early experimental period, the oxidation products
were analyzed by gas chromatography at every 10 °C rise of the coal temperature.
During the later experimental period, the oxidation products were analyzed after the
last analysis.

2.3 Measurement of Thermal Characteristics

TG-DSC is used to measure the weight change, heat of reaction and the rate of heat
release during the process of coal oxidation. This experiment is conducted by a
SDT-Q600 simultaneous TG-DSC instrument made in America.
Before the experiment, 10 mg of coal sample in the range of 0.096–0.15 mm was
weighted by electronic balance and put into the crucible. Then the dry air or moist air
was flowing into the crucible as a flow rate of 100 mL/min and the coal sample was
heated at a constant heating rate of 2 °C/min from ambient temperature to 800 °C.
 The Effect of Moisture in Air on the Spontaneous Combustion … 521

3 Results and Discussion

3.1 Effects on CPT
The effects of humidity on CPT were investigated during coal oxidation process, as
shown in Fig. 2.

Fig. 2. Crossing point temperature (CPT) during coal oxidation with dry air and air of 30, 60
and 100% relative humidity

As can be seen from Table 2, the CPT values were determined to be 153 °C with
dry air. While with the air of 30, 60 and 100% relative humidity, the CPT values were
151, 150 and 148 °C respectively. These results showed that the value of CPT
decreased with the increase of air humidity, which indicated that air humidity had a
positive effect on spontaneous combustion of coal. This result can be explained as
follows: The water molecules in air were attached to coal particles gradually as the
moist air flowing through the coal, which can release amounts of heat due to the
process of condensation. This part of heat was much more than the heat generated by
coal oxidation in the early stage [5], and can accelerate the increase of coal temperature
as the temperature-rise curves shown in Fig. 2.

Table 2. Summary of measured CPT values

Air humidity (%) Dry 30 60 100
CPT value (°C) 153 151 150 148

In general, the coal is capable of holding a certain amount of water under given
pressure and temperature, which can generate vapor pressure in coal. When the partial
pressure of water vapor in the air is higher than vapor pressure in coal, there would be a
sorption of water from the air and condensation heat is generated. With the ongoing
522 M. Dong and Q. Botao

sorption process vapor pressure in the coal increases rapidly. When the vapor pressure
is equal to the partial pressure of water vapor in the air, the equilibrium is established.
The higher the air humidity, the higher the vapor pressure established by the equi-
librium, the greater the heat release. Then due to the increase of temperature, the water
desorbs from coal during the process of evaporation and cause heat loss. However, the
coal temperature still continues to rise evidenced by the coal temperature curves,
showing heat loss only has a slight effect on coal oxidation at this stage.

3.2 Effects on Oxidation Products During Low-Temperature Oxidation

CO is usually regarded as the indicator gas of spontaneous combustion of coal in coal
mine. Besides, C2H4 emerges at a higher temperature, which can be used to be a
prediction index when coal oxidation run into the accelerated oxidation stage [8]. For
this reason, we studied the effects of air humidity on emission of CO and C2H4 during
low-temperature oxidation.
As shown in Fig. 3, the CO concentration differs from each other as a result of air
humidity. With the increase in temperature, the higher the air humidity, the higher the
CO concentration. Figure 3 also shows that when temperatures rises from 30 to 100 °
C, water sorption also occurs, as shown by the CO emission-temperature curves,
indicating that water adsorbed from air will enhance CO emission. For example, when
temperature reaches 70 °C, the CO concentration is 27 ppm with dry air while it is
114 ppm when air is fully saturated (100% relative humidity). The results also shows
that humidity can significantly enhance coal oxidation, a critical index for predicting
and preventing coal spontaneous combustion.

Fig. 3. CO emission-temperature curves with dry air and air of 30, 60 and 100% relative
humidity

The experiment results of C2H4 emission-temperature curves as shown in Fig. 4 has

also verify the conclusion above. The C2H4 concentration increases with the increase of
 The Effect of Moisture in Air on the Spontaneous Combustion … 523

air humidity. With an air relative humidity of 100%, C2H4 emerges at 80 °C and the
concentration is 0.35 ppm. With an air relative humidity of 60%, C2H4 also emerges at
80 °C but the concentration drops to 0.12 ppm. However, the C2H4 havn’t been found
when it is 30% RH or dry air at 80 °C. The results demonstration the air humidity can
lead to the emergence of C2H4 earlier, which is important for increasing the efficiency
of predicting the coal fire.

Fig. 4. C2H4 emission-temperature curves with dry air and air of 30, 60 and 100% relative
humidity

3.3 Effects on Thermal Characteristics

The thermal characteristics of coal under different air humidity conditions were studied
by TG-DSC tests. The experiment results were shown in Fig. 5. Two different reaction
regions were observed in TG-DTG curves of coal samples under four types of air
humidities. The reaction region, peak and burn-out temperature and mass loss data of
coal samples were listed in Table 3. The TG-DSC curve of coal with dry air was
obtained as shown in Fig. 5a. In the first region, the TG curve showed a downward
trend, which was mainly caused by desorption of air-dried moisture and gases absorbed
of the coal [9]. Then with the temperature rising, the reaction of coal-oxygen started
and accelerated gradually. In the second region (260–500 °C), the mass of coal
decreased obviously and entered the stage of rapid weightlessness, which indicated the
complicated chemical reactions occurred and produced oxidation products. During this
stage, the heat flow formed a peak as shown in DSC curve. This peak represented that
the rate of heat release by reaction of coal-oxygen reached the maximum with the value
of 75.68 mW. Next, the reaction rate of coal-oxygen decreased and the heat release
tend to drop off.
524 M. Dong and Q. Botao

(a) Dry air (b) RH=30%

(c) RH=60% (d) RH=100%

Fig. 5. TG-DSC curves of coal with dry air and air of 30, 60 and 100% relative humidity (this
needs to be on the previous page)

Table 3. Reaction region, peak temperature and mass loss data of coal samples (TG-DTG) with
dry air and air of 30, 60 and 100% relative humidity
Air relative Reaction Peak Mass Reaction Peak Mass Burn-out
humidity (%) region-I temp.I loss-I region-II temp. II loss-II temp.
(°C) (°C) (%) (°C) (°C) (%) (°C)
0 (dry air) 25–260 102 8.12 260–500 420 81.88 648
30% 25–250 100 8.58 250–485 410 80.42 642
60 25–235 101 9.15 235–475 405 78.85 635
100 25–215 100 10.11 215–468 390 76.902 624

Figure 5b, c, d were obtained with air relative humidity of 30, 60 and 100%,
respectively. As shown in the first region of TG-DTG curves, the mass of coal
increased rapidly in the initial stage and a mass peak formed, then the mass of coal
began to decline. This process can be divided to four stages as shown in Fig. 6. A coal
particle was seen as an object of study. Firstly, the water molecules were adsorbed by
coal particle, which led to the mass of coal increased rapidly; Then because of the
equilibrium established between coal particle and moist air mentioned in Chap. 3.1 of
this work, the water molecules desorbed with the temperature rising. In the third stage,
 The Effect of Moisture in Air on the Spontaneous Combustion … 525

the desorption of water molecules in the pores was the main action. The pores in the
coal had a capacity of water retention, where the water molecules existed by physical
and chemical sorption [10, 11]. When the coal temperature reached to the critical value,
those water molecules run into the process of desorption. Finally, water molecules in
the pores fully desorbed, coal mass is reduced.

Fig. 6. The process of water molecule migration in the coal particle

As shown in Fig. 5, three different reaction regions were observed in DSC curves of
coal samples under four kinds of air humidities. Table 4 lists Reaction region, peak tem-
perature and maximum heat flow data of coal samples (DSC) with dry air and air with 30, 60
and 100% relative humidity. When the temperature reached nearly 400 °C, the peak of
Region II will be shown in DCS curve. At this point, the rate of reaction of coal-oxygen
reached the maximum value. As shown in Table 4, the peak temperature II decreases with
the increase of humidity. When air saturated or has a relative humidity 100%, the
coal-oxygen reaction will be at its maximum and temperature will be at 385.68 °C. The
results showed that the maximum coal-oxygen is obtained at a lower temperature when
moisture is present, oxidation is accelerated due to the presence of water.

Table 4. Reaction region, peak temperature and maximum heat flow data of coal samples
(DSC) with dry air and air of 30, 60 and 100% relative humidity
Air relative Reaction Peak Reaction Peak Reaction Peak Max. heat
humidity (%) region-I temp. I region-II temp.II region-III temp. III flow (mW)
(°C) (°C) (°C) (°C) (°C) (°C)
0 (dry air) n.a. n.a. 130–455 417.28 455–540 510 75.68
30% 25–140 48.56 25–445 411.25 445–530 505 76.35
60 25–130 51.03 130–430 402.64 430–525 490 76.65
100 25–125 55.24 125–415 385.68 415–500 475 76.35
n.a.—not available
526 M. Dong and Q. Botao

4 Conclusion

The CPT and oxidation products at different humidities during coal spontaneous
combustion were investigated. The experimental results indicated that humidity can
significantly accelerate coal oxidation process by decreasing CPT and increasing CO
and C2H4 emission. Then, the TG-DSC experiments were conducted to study the
effects of air humidity on the thermal characteristics of coal. The results illustrated the
maximum rate of coal-oxygen reaction were likely to be reached at a lower temperature
because of the presence of water vapor, the water adsorbed will accelerate coal
oxidation.
In conclusion, humidity can significantly accelerate coal oxidation, which is an
important discovery that can be used to fight coal mine fires.

Acknowledgements. This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of
China (51476184), Jiangsu Province Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars
(BK20140005), and Excellent Innovation Team of China University of Mining and Technology
(2015ZY002).

References
1. Schmal, L.D., Duyzer, J.H., van Heuven, J.W.: A model for the spontaneous heating of coal.
Fuel 64, 963–972 (1985)
2. Stott, J.B.: Influence of moisture on the spontaneous heating of coal. Nature 188(4744), 54–
54 (1960)
3. Bhat, S., Agarwal, P.K.: The effect of moisture condensation on the spontaneous
combustibility of coal. Fuel 75(13), 1523–1532 (1996)
4. Bhattacharyya, K.K.: The role of sorption of water vapour in the spontaneous heating of
coal. Fuel 50(4), 367–380 (1971)
5. Miura, K.: Adsorption of water vapor from ambient atmosphere onto coal fines leading to
spontaneous heating of coal stockpile. Energy Fuels 30(1), 219–229 (2015)
6. Ren, T.X., Edwards, J.S., Clarke, D.: Adiabatic oxidation study on the propensity of
pulverised coals to spontaneous combustion. Fuel 78(14), 1611–1620 (1999)
7. Küçük, A., Kadıoğlu, Y., Gülaboğlu, M.Ş.: A study of spontaneous combustion
characteristics of a Turkish lignite: particle size, moisture of coal, humidity of air. Combust.
Flame 133(3), 255–261 (2003)
8. Liang, Z., Wang, J.R.: The technology of forecasting and predicting the hidden danger of
underground coal spontaneous combustion. Procedia Eng. 26, 2301–2305 (2011)
9. Kok, M.V.: Simultaneous thermogravimetry–calorimetry study on the combustion of coal
samples: effect of heating rate. Energy Convers. Manag. 53(1), 40–44 (2012)
10. Pastor-Villegas, J., Rodríguez, J.M.M., Pastor-Valle, J.F., Rouquerol, J., Denoyel, R.,
García, M.G.: Adsorption–desorption of water vapour on chars prepared from commercial
wood charcoals, in relation to their chemical composition, surface chemistry and pore
structure. J. Anal. Appl. Pyrol. 88(2), 124–133 (2010)
 The Effect of Moisture in Air on the Spontaneous Combustion … 527

11. Hayashi, J., Norinaga, K., Kudo, N., Chiba, T.: Estimation of size and shape of pores in
moist coal utilizing sorbed water as a molecular probe. Energy Fuels 15(4), 903–909 (2001)
12. Lu, P., Liao, G.X., Sun, J.H., Li, P.D.: Experimental research on index gas of the coal
spontaneous at low temperature stage. J. Loss Prev. Process Ind. 17(3), 243–247 (2004)
13. Wang, H., Dlugogorski, B.Z., Kennedy, E.M.: Role of inherent water in low-temperature
oxidation of coal. Combust. Sci. Technol. 175(2), 253–270 (2003)