LEVELS OF VARIATION IN EMISSIONS OF VOLATILE ORGANIC HYDROCARBONS AND AROMATICS FROM COAL FIRES

Coal fires, found in many areas of the world, including eastern Kentucky, are the source of emissions that can be harmful to both people and the environment. The Center for Applied Energy Research at the University of Kentucky (CAER), in collaboration with Morehead State University, East Georgia College, and the US Geological Survey, has collected coal fire data in eastern Kentucky and in other areas. Field and laboratory techniques evolved over the course of the studies, and now include more comprehensive methods of in situ gas analysis and long-term temperature and CO measurement. Volatile hydrocarbon and aromatic emissions from coal fires have been determined at sites representing a number of geologic settings. In this study, emissions will be compared on the basis of geologic age of the coal, coal rank, and a number of local conditions. In particular, the latter would include emission variation between vents during a single sampling time and variations at the same vent through multiple samplings; both difficult to quantify owing to the migration of the fire and the changing conditions in the connections between the fire and the exit vent.