Cut longwall ignitions by lowering methane concentrations around longwall shearers

This paper describes Bureau of Mines efforts to prevent methane ignitions at longwall operations of diluting the methane. Use of a walkway curtain during the headgate cutout has been combined with use of a modified shearer clearer system during the rest of the cutting cycle. Together, these two techniques can lower methane concentrations significantly around the shearer of the entire mining cycle at a low cost.