A large amount of greenhouse gas is emitted due to 'fire inside the pit' that continues to burn for more than decades

by Michael W. May

The town of Centralia , Pennsylvania, in the state of Pennsylvania, once prospered by coal mining, but due to the fire in the mine that occurred in 1962, a recommendation to leave was made to the residents to become a ghost town, after that the mine burned for nearly 50 years It continues. It is pointed out that underground fire occurring at such a mine is a major cause of global warming.

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In 1962, a fire broke out from an unauthorized garbage dumping place in Centralia which flourished in coal mining. As a result of the fire reaching into the coal mining drilled in the basement, it failed the initial fire fighting activity. Due to the enormous cost and technical problems associated with fire suppression, the government gave up extinguishing fire and took a policy to wait for natural fire suppression. However, there was no evidence of fire suppression, damage such as the emission of smoke containing carbon monoxide occurred, and in 1992 the governor issued a evacuation recommendation to the inhabitants.

In Centralia who once boasted a population of nearly 2,600 people, it is believed that a small number of residents still live, ignoring the evacuation recommendation, but the influence of the fire seems to be serious. From the cracks that run to the ground, smoke rises, abandoned houses and surrounding forests are burned, and there is an intense sulfur smell around them.

Even if decades or more have passed since the last attempt to extinguish the fire, the fire in Centralia spreads in the galleries extending in various directions and does not show signs of fitting. Coal fires are not unique to Centralia but are problems occurring all over the world.

Underground fires occurring at coal mines are fuel-rich and difficult to calm down, not only risking the neighborhood community but also wasting precious fuel meaningless. Also, a large amount of greenhouse gases will be generated as a result of combustion. Centralia is not the only coal fire in the United States, and 38 firefightings in the underground are continuing in Central Pennsylvania alone, including Centralia. Inside Alabama, Wyoming State, China and India, there is also a long-term burning fire in the mine, which is one of the main causes of polluting the earth with carbon dioxide.

Dutch Enschede International Institute of Geographic Information Science and Earth Observation in the ITC Enschede According to the, alone underground fire that has occurred in China, the annual 100-200 million tons ones corresponding to about 20% of the annual production of coal The coal is burning. Carbon dioxide emissions due to fire in the mine in China are said to be 1.1 billion tons, which is said to exceed the carbon dioxide emissions by the whole automobile in the United States.

Glenn Stracher , an expert on coal fires, said, "Smoke generated by coal fires contains not only carbon dioxide, but also as many as 60 kinds of toxic substances," according to a coal fires arsenic · Selenium · fluorine · sulfur · lead · copper · bismuth · tin · germanium · mercury etc. are emitted. Robert Finkelman , a geologist at the University of Texas at Dallas, estimates that as much as 40 tons of mercury is being released into the air by coal fires that failed to settle.

One of the reasons that some underground fires are being left out is the reason that it is extremely difficult and dangerous to extinguish the fire. If water is applied, there is a possibility of causing a steam explosion, and the method of blocking the inlet of the mine by blocking the entrance of the mine is also effective only in small-scale mine fires. In the case of a large fire such as Centralia, it is impossible to shut off the flow of the air to the extent that the tunnel is blocked, and it is said that it takes a great danger and cost to completely extinguish the fire.

In order to extinguish such a fire in the mine, a company called CAFSCO Fire Control devised a method of extinguishing compressed nitrogen into the pit. The compressed nitrogen fed in will bubble in the pit and will expand and block oxygen by bubbles without oxygen. Unfortunately, even at the time of writing the article, the fire in the mine in Centralia still has not been extinguished, but in the future there is a possibility that the fire which was seen as "burning for hundreds of years" will be put out.