Integrating Modelling and Directional Drilling for Methane Mitigation in Deep Coal Mines: A Case Study of the Staszic–Wujek Coal Mine (Poland)

This paper investigates the effectiveness of a coal mine methane drainage system in hard coal mining, with particular emphasis on coal seam 501 at the Staszic–Wujek coal mine (Polska Grupa Górnicza S.A., Katowice, Poland) in the Upper Silesian Coal Basin (USCB), Poland. The study evaluates methane drainage efficiency considering geo-mechanical conditions governing the optimal location of drainage boreholes. Conventional and long directional boreholes are analyzed. Opposite to conventional static analytical approaches, the proposed integrated analysis framework incorporates multi-physics processes, improving forecasting accuracy and enabling dynamic optimization of methane control in deep coal mines. The framework reproduces the geometry of the mining system and the mechanical properties of the surrounding rock mass, allowing the influence of geo-mechanical processes on methane drainage efficiency to be assessed. The methane content of coal seam 501 and methane sorption kinetics on representative coal samples are analyzed together with key characteristics of the mine ventilation system, including air and pressure distribution in workings and goafs and migration paths of methane–air mixtures within coal panel II/C.