Title: The coal heap as an energy source - evaluation of its utilisation potential based on detailed field measuring and numerical model simulations

Authors: Šárka Kalužnižinová; Helena Straková; Jan Baier; Vladislav Chrastný

Addresses: Department of Environmental Geosciences, Faculty of Environmental Sciences, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Kamýcká 1176, 165 21 Praha 6 – Suchdol, Czech Republic ' Department of Applied Geoinformatics and Spatial Planning, Faculty of Environmental Sciences, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Kamýcká 1176, 165 21 Praha 6 – Suchdol, Czech Republic ' Department of Applied Ecology, Faculty of Environmental Sciences, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Kamýcká 1176, 165 21 Praha 6 – Suchdol, Czech Republic ' Department of Environmental Geosciences, Faculty of Environmental Sciences, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Kamýcká 1176, 165 21 Praha 6 – Suchdol, Czech Republic

Abstract: This article deals with thermal monitoring of coal heaps in the eastern Krkonose Mountains of the Czech Republic. Thermal activity was determined at four localities by means of contact thermometers and carbon dioxide emission measurements. Measured temperatures were used to calibrate the numerical model. A prognosis of the thermal field development was drawn. The highest temperatures found in the (thermally) most promising site for potential energy production (the Eliška coal heap in the Žacléř region) reached 337.35 K at a depth of 50 cm below the surface, where the surface temperature was 298.45 K and ambient air temperature was 284.15 K. On this site, the highest subsurface temperature reached 343.55 K in the control quadrat. The mathematical model showed that the temperature inside the coal heap should not fall below 293.15 K for at least 20 years. [Received: April 2, 2013; Accepted: December 26, 2013]

Keywords: coal heaps; black coal; thermal monitoring; energy source; mathematical modelling; numerical simulation; Czech Republic; carbon dioxide; CO2; carbon emissions; temperature.

DOI: 10.1504/IJOGCT.2015.072036

International Journal of Oil, Gas and Coal Technology, 2015 Vol.10 No.4, pp.403 - 425

Received: 02 Apr 2013
Accepted: 26 Dec 2013
Published online: 30 Sep 2015 *

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