Burning heap
A burning heap is a Bergehalde (slag heap of coal mining) or dump (dump) with a smoldering inside the dump body or with an open fire . These fires are fed by flammable or combustible components of the stockpile components (the landfill material). Burning heaps can either show easily recognizable smoke and gas development or be superficially inconspicuous and can only be recognized by temperature and gas measurements.
Spoil heaps
In the mine dumps from coal mining z. B. the proportion of the remaining coal up to 20 percent, so that smoldering fires are possible through self-ignition (coal under pressure in contact with atmospheric oxygen), the embers of which reach temperatures of over 500 ° C. 400 ° C were measured in the Rheinelbe dump . The fires, which continue to self-ignite, can last for over 100 years, similar to coal seam fires, depending on the material supply . In some cases, this also releases toxic smoldering gases . Landslides and ceilings collapses are possible. Attempts to extinguish the fire can lead to deflagrations and explosions. Often these deletions are only short-lived or completely useless. A geothermal use is currently being tested in a pilot project and appears possible.
Burning heaps in Germany
The burning heaps include at least seven of the heaps in the Ruhr area . According to Section 321 (12) of the Mining Ordinance for Hard Coal Mines (BVOSt), burning or smoldering heaps in North Rhine-Westphalia may not be removed without a special permit. But there are also burning heaps in all other hard coal mining areas.
Examples:
- Stockpile Rheinelbe in Gelsenkirchen
- Rungenberg dump in Gelsenkirchen
- Stockpile Prussia in Lünen
- Graf Moltke dump in Gladbeck
- Dump Northern Germany in Neukirchen-Vluyn
- Wehofen-Ost dump in Dinslaken
- Heap of large wood in Bergkamen
- Halde Anna 1, Alsdorf (towards Würselen )
- Dump of the Germany shaft, Oelsnitz / Erzgeb.
- Halde of the Königin-Carola-Schacht , Freital
At the temperatures, special minerals are formed that were only discovered here. On the heap of the Königin-Carola-Schacht in Freital, the one-centimeter-large salmiak crystals became known.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Wolfgang Berke: Across all mountains - The definitive stockpile guide in the Ruhr area. Klartext Verlag, Essen 2009, ISBN 9783837501704 , pp. 80/81.
- ↑ Dump geothermal energy (PDF; 383 kB). Retrieved December 1, 2011
- ↑ Volker Mrasek : The glowing mountains of the coal fields . In: Der Spiegel , March 22, 2005 ( online ).
- ↑ Steinkohle-Portal: Aachen ( Memento of the original from June 27, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Research work by Thomas Witzke
