Development and Optimization of a Nanocomposite Gel Foam for Inhibiting Coal Spontaneous Combustion

ABSTRACT

A nanocomposite gel foam inhibitor was made by grafting tea polyphenol onto sodium polyacrylate through the graft polymerization reaction, which was then combined with graphene oxide and a foaming agent. Response surface analysis was used to optimize the ratio to improve the water absorption of the inhibitor. The microstructure of the inhibitor was studied using X-ray diffraction and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy. The anti-spontaneous combustion performance of the nano-composite gel foam was tested through a leakage wind plugging experiment and a thermogravimetric experiment. The results show that the optimal additions of graphene, tea polyphenol, and potassium persulfate were 0.76%, 2.806%, and 0.727% of acrylic acid, respectively. The ultimate pressures of the gel foam before and after fully forming the gel were 0. 26 kPa and 0. 736 kPa, respectively, which satisfies the demand for leakage wind plugging in a coal mine. The critical temperature and dry cracking temperature of the gel foam were 112.4°C and 201.0°C, respectively, and the quality of the oxygen-absorbing and weight-gaining stage were almost unincreased. The gel foam showed good water retention, oxygen barrier, and antioxidant properties and can play a significant role in inhibiting the coal spontaneous combustion.

KEYWORDS:

• Coal spontaneous combustion
• inhibitor
• nano-modification
• ratio optimization

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Supplemental data

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/00102202.2024.2376265.

Additional information

Funding

The authors acknowledge the financial support of project Nos. [51974015 and 51474017] provided by the National Natural Science Foundation of China; project No. [SMDPC202101] provided by the State Key Laboratory of Mining Disaster Prevention and Control (Shandong University of Science and Technology); project Nos. [FRF-IC-20-01 and FRF-IC-19-013] provided by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities; project No. [2018YFC0810601] provided by the National Key Research and Development Program of China; project No. [2020CXNL10] provided by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (China University of Mining and Technology); project No. [WS2018B03] provided by the State Key Laboratory Cultivation Base for Gas Geology and Gas Control (Henan Polytechnic University); and project No. [E21724] provided by the Work Safety Key Lab on Prevention and Control of Gas and Roof Disasters for Southern Coal Mines of China (Hunan University of Science and Technology).