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Title: A method to evaluate the performance of coal fire extinguishants

Technical Report ·
OSTI ID:5252278

This book reports that the U.S. Bureau of Mines developed an experimental method to evaluate the relative effectiveness of water additives on the extinguishment of coal fires. The experiments were conducted in the fire zone of the multiple-entry section of the Bureau's Bruceton Experimental Mine. Four-hundred-pound Pittsburgh Seam coalbeds were ignited and allowed to burn until well-developed fires were achieved. Extinguishing agent-water solutions were then applied to the fires, and the quantity required to extinguish the fires was compared with the quantity of water alone required to extinguish similar fires. A 20 pct diammonium phosphate-water solution required an average of 5.8 gal to extinguish the coal fires, while two commercially available additive-water solutions required an average of 8.1 and 8.0 gal, respectively. The average amount of water required to extinguish the fires was 7.4 gal.

Research Organization:
Bureau of Mines, Pittsburgh, PA (United States)
OSTI ID:
5252278
Report Number(s):
RI-9392
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English