Directory of Recent Testing Methods for the Propensity of Coal to Spontaneous Combustion

Abstract

The previous 5–7 years have seen a significant revival of interest in laboratory-scale methods of assessing coals and carbons for propensity to spontaneous heating. Different methods are used in different countries to test the propensity of local coals to self-heat. This note comprises a compilation, for subsequent use by readers as a ‘first-stage reference’, of the state-of-the art in coal self-heating testing in countries including Australia, New Zealand, UK, USA, and Germany. This exercise has been part of a re-evaluation of the situation in this regard in the People’s Republic of China and of the possible adoption thereof one of the procedures in the compilation.