How to Efficiently Remove Carbon Monoxide Gas from Refuge Chambers?

In underground engineering projects such as coal mines, refuge chambers are the last safety barrier for personnel in the event of accidents such as fires and gas explosions. However, carbon monoxide (CO) gas accumulated inside the chambers, if not treated in time, can quickly lead to poisoning. Carbon monoxide catalysts are the core solution for efficiently removing CO.

CO in mine shafts primarily originates from two sources: external accidents, such as incomplete combustion of coal or gas explosions during mine fires, which produce large amounts of CO (concentrations exceeding 5000 ppm) that seep into the shaft through gaps; and internal equipment, such as backup generators and self-rescue devices, which release small amounts of CO if combustion is incomplete, accumulating rapidly in the confined environment.

Carbon monoxide oxidation catalysts, such as hopcalite catalysts, are powerful tools for purifying CO. Their core components are highly efficient catalytic materials like copper and manganese oxides, which trigger a chemical reaction between CO and oxygen at room temperature (without additional heating), converting highly toxic CO into non-toxic CO₂ (reaction formula: 2CO + O₂ → 2CO₂). This room-temperature catalytic component is highly specific, reacting only with CO and not affecting other gases within the shaft (such as oxygen and nitrogen), achieving precise purification.

Tests conducted in a coal mine refuge chamber showed that when external CO infiltration caused the concentration inside the chamber to rise to 500 ppm (far exceeding the safe threshold of 24 ppm), activating the purification device filled with a hogalat catalyst reduced the CO concentration to below 20 ppm within 15 minutes and maintained a stable level within the safe range for 8 hours.

In a 2023 coal mine fire in Shanxi Province, 32 miners sought refuge in a chamber where CO levels reached 800 ppm due to external flue gas infiltration. Relying on a CO purification catalyst system, the equipment operated continuously for 12 hours, controlling the CO concentration at 18 ppm, ultimately ensuring the safe rescue of all miners.

The core contribution of carbon monoxide catalysts is transforming the "passive waiting" of refuge chambers into "active protection," significantly increasing the survival probability in extreme environments. Future research and development will focus on improving the catalyst's resistance to moisture (to prevent deactivation in high-humidity environments) and its resistance to toxicity (to resist interference from sulfides in flue gas), and will combine this with intelligent sensing systems to achieve dynamic control of purification efficiency, building a more robust defense for mining safety.

Author: Hazel 

Date: 2025-11-05