Journal of Cleaner Production 261 (2020) 121259

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Journal of Cleaner Production

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Short communication

Design method for cadmium and arsenic contamination control

during the mining-selecting-backfilling integrated technology
Huaizhan Li a, b, Jianfeng Zha a, b, **, Hongzhen Zhang a, b, Nanshan Zheng a, b, c,
Guangli Guo a, b, c, *
a
Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Resources and Environment Information Engineering, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou, Jiangsu, 221116,
China
b
NASG Key Laboratory of Land Environment and Disaster Monitoring, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou, Jiangsu, 221116, China
c
School of Environment Science and Spatial Informatics, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou, Jiangsu, 221116, China

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Because of the toxicity and harmfulness of heavy metals including cadmium and arsenic, how to reduce
Received 13 August 2019 and control the pollution of these heavy metals in coal mining areas has always been a challenging issue.
Received in revised form Although earlier studies focused on cadmium and arsenic contamination caused by coal combustion and
5 March 2020
waste rock piles and their control, there have been few reports of measures for pollution control in the
Accepted 20 March 2020
Available online 20 March 2020
coal mining process. Thus, the pollution in coal and residues cannot be initially controlled from the
source. From this viewpoint, this paper first analyzes the possible hazard forms of cadmium and arsenic
Handling editor. Prof. Bing-Jie Ni in coal during regular coal mining. The method and design processes of the mining-selecting-backfilling
integrated technology are investigated for the control of arsenic and cadmium pollution during the
Keywords: mining process, and the effectiveness of this method is verified by an engineering example. The research
Arsenic and cadmium pollution results indicate that the mining-selecting-backfilling integrated technology can completely eliminate
Mining-selecting-backfilling integrated coal heavy metal contamination in coal gangue through avoiding coal gangue accumulation and spontaneous
mining technology combustion. Meanwhile the contamination risks of heavy metals such as cadmium and arsenic can also
Mining fissures
be reduced by underground unmined coal resources via reasonably designing the backfilling rate and
Control measures
controlling the development of mining fissures.
© 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction injurious to the surrounding and human health. Among these

In the development of the world economy, coal plays a critical
role for offering energy guarantee, e.g. more than 28% of chief en-
ergy consumption can be maintained via coal sources (BP Group,
2017). Related to other crucial energy sources such as oil and nat-
ural gas, contamination caused via coal mining and usage has
attained more widespread concern (Li et al., 2019). The dominant
reason is possibly from that coal has trace elements including Hg,
Cd, Se, As, F, Sb, Be and B, which might be potentially or directly
* Corresponding author. Jiangsu key Laboratory of Resources and Environment
Information Engineering, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou,
Jiangsu, 221116, China.
** Corresponding author. NASG Key Laboratory of Land Environment and Disaster
Monitoring, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou, Jiangsu, 221116,
China.
E-mail addresses: lihuaizhan@cumt.edu.cn (H. Li), zhajianfeng@cumt.edu.cn
(J. Zha), guangliguo@cumt.edu.cn (G. Guo).
element, the harmfulness of arsenic (As) and cadmium (Cd) is even
more significant. For instance, acute cadmium poisoning can cause
dyspnea, general weakness and heart failure, while chronic cad-
mium poisoning can lead to hypertension, loss of olfactory per-
formance and renal failure (Nishijo et al., 2017). Arsenic itself is
non-toxic, but numerous arsenic compounds have lethal toxicity,
remarkably for arsenic trioxide possesses a well-known and highly
toxic substance (Klinger et al., 2017). Since arsenic and cadmium
are harmful for atmospheric environment and human healthiness,
the way to reduce and regulate the arsenic and cadmium pollution
in coal mining and usage has always been a hot topic.
Many studies have been conducted on the pollution of cadmium
and arsenic after coal mining and its control measures. In terms of
arsenic and cadmium pollution from coal combustion, Xie in-
vestigates the concentration of selenium and arsenic in the atmo-
sphere around Taiyuan, and concludes that the pollution of
airborne particulate pollution in this city is directly from coal

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.121259
0959-6526/© 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
2 H. Li et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 261 (2020) 121259
consumption (Xie et al., 2006). Tang studies the distribution of
arsenic, selenium and stibium in raw coal from two powdered coal-
fired power plants in Anhui, Huainan, and reveals that these four
metal concentrations in coal are followed the typical values re-
ported by other Chinese power plants (Tang et al., 2012). In addi-
tion, Agrawal (Agrawal et al., 2010), Chen (Chen et al., 2013), Pandey
(Pandey et al., 2011), Tian (Tian et al., 2011), Xiao (Xiao et al., 2011),
Kang (Kang et al., 2011), Ali (Ali et al., 2015), Nelson (Nelson et al.,
2010) and Wu (Wu et al., 2013) also work on the contamination
of heavy metal like cadmium and arsenic caused by coal combus-
tion and provide scientific basis for the pollution treatment.
Regarding the contamination of heavy metal including cad-
mium and arsenic caused by coal gangue accumulation and spon-
taneous combustion (residues formed after mining), Wang
estimates the annual emissions of arsenic, sulfur, fluoride and
tribute from China’s coal gangue, and derives 2013 gangue spon-
taneous combustion emissions of arsenic, sulfur, fluoride and
tribute are 246 tons, 1.13 Mt, 63298 tons and 45 tons, respectively
(Wang et al., 2016). Zhou uses sequential extraction to acquire
element fractioning behavior in coal gangue to attain trace ele-
ments (Mn, Se, Cr, Li, Zn, As and Cu) that pose a serious environ-
ments threat to the ecosystem (Zhou et al., 2014). Also, Luo (Luo
et al., 2010), Wang (Wang et al., 2013) and Zhou (Zhou et al.,
2017) investigate that the accumulation of coal gangue and spon-
taneous combustion can cause arsenic and cadmium pollution,
providing a scientific basis for pollution control. However, there are
few reports on the pollution of cadmium and arsenic in coal mining
process and its control measures, and the generated pollution
cannot be controlled from the source. In addition, as the two largest
coal producers in the world, the average levels of arsenic in coal are
two or three in China and U.S., and in some areas, arsenic in coal is
at level four (Ren et al., 2006). The content of cadmium in coal is
medium-level, and with high level in some areas of U.S. and China.
Uncontrolled mining of high-arsenic, high-cadmium-containing
coal will inevitably cause environmental pollution in the mining
area and seriously threaten health of residents.
Based on above researches, it is urgent to have studies on
measures for cadmium and arsenic pollution control during coal
mining process from the source. Thus, this paper first analyzes the
potential forms of cadmium and arsenic in coal during conventional
coal mining, and then a new mining technology is proposed for
reducing cadmium and arsenic pollution during mining process.
Meanwhile, the control method and design flow have been
researched in the mining process of this new technology. This work
has worthy theoretical impacts for the reduction of the contami-
nation of arsenic and cadmium during the coal mining process, and
also owns practical meaning for protection of the health of people
closing to the mining area.
2. Arsenic and cadmium potential threat forms during
regular coal mining
Cadmium and arsenic mainly result in contamination by the
atmosphere and water. When coal is concealed deep underground,
its contained cadmium and arsenic shall not produce environment
contamination. Yet, in the process of coal resource mining, heavy
metals including cadmium and arsenic may generate environment
contamination via diverse ways, e.g. atmosphere, surface water and
aquifer due to mining influence. When the coal seam is excavated,
the direct roof will move downward and bend because of gravity
and its overlying rock. When the maximum tensile strength of the
rock cannot support the interior tensile stress, the direct top rock
will fracture one after another with breaking and descending. The
old roof rock layer is moved in the normal direction of bedding
plane with a beam or cantilever beam or cantilever beam bending,
leading to break and separate. With the working face processing,
the rock strata range influence from mining is continuously
expanding, and its movements are transmitted to the surface,
forming a surface subsidence basin (He et al., 1991; Li et al., 2019),
as shown in Fig. 1.
From the above description, two types of cadmium and arsenic
contamination may be caused during the underground coal
mining:
1) If the height of the mining fissure growth is larger than the
mining depth (Fig. 1), mining fissures can develop to the ground.
When the fissure growth results to a cut-through of surface
water and goaf, water will flow into the goaf through the fissures
and act with waste in the gob area to form acidic mine water.
Thus, arsenic and cadmium in unmined coal will dissolve into
these acidic mine waters, and the polluted mine water will in
turn contaminate surface water, which will affect the ecological
environment near the mining area; If the fissure growth leads to
the connection between atmosphere and goaf, cadmium and
arsenic in the unmined coal can be oxidized or volatilized under
the atmospheric environment, also seriously threatening the
environment.
2) If the growth height of mining fissures is larger than that of the
coal seam to aquifer (Fig. 2), the goaf and the overburden aquifer
can generate a cut-through if there is an aquifer in the overlying
strata. So, water will flow into the goaf via the fissures and act
with waste in the gob area to form acidic mine water, which can
dissolve the cadmium and arsenic in the unmined. The polluted
mine water will in turn form a water level connection with the
overlying aquifer, thereby contaminating the entire aquifer.
Thus, it can extremely impact the security of groundwater and
crops and jeopardize the resident health.
3. The new idea for the reduction of arsenic and cadmium
pollution during mining
3.1. The idea for reducing arsenic and cadmium contamination
during mining
It can be summarized from the above that the growth of mining
fissures to the surface or the overlying aquifer will result in cad-
mium and arsenic contamination. Thus, the key to lowering cad-
mium and arsenic contamination is to control the growth height of
mining fissures, which should be ensured not affecting the aquifer
of overlying rock or surface, and this will lower the risk of heavy
metal pollution caused by underground unmined coal resources.
Currently, the approaches for controlling the mining fissure
development height mainly include reduction of the mining
thickness and backfilling mining. Cutting the mining thickness of
coal seams can reduce the disturbance degree of coal seams, and
control the growth height of mining fissures. However, this method
will notably lower the recovery rate of coal resource, so it is not
often used. Backfilling mining refers to the filling of coal gangue
(Guo et al., 2014; Zhu et al., 2016; Ma et al., 2017), paste (Sun et al.,
2018; Qi et al., 2015) and super-high water materials (Li et al. 2016,
2017) into the area of goaf, to regulate overlying rock stratum
movement and the overburden fracture development, see Fig. 3.
Thus, it can be seen that backfilling mining is a good way to
control the growth height of fissure and to lower cadmium and
arsenic contamination during mining. Paste backfilling and super-
high water backfilling require additional configuration of corre-
sponding materials, while gangue backfilling does not require other
configuration materials, with the ability to eliminate solid waste
generated by mining and reducing heavy metal contamination
 H. Li et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 261 (2020) 121259 3

Fig. 1. Mining fissures grew to the surface.

Fig. 2. Mining fissures grew to overlying aquifers.

Fig. 3. Backfilling mining for fissure growth control.

from coal gangue accumulation. Therefore, gangue backfilling is the
most proper way to decrease the contamination of cadmium and
arsenic in the process of mining.
Currently, gangue backfilling mainly uses the ground gangue
material transportation system and the direct feed transportation
system to transfer the surface accumulated gangue to the under-
ground backfilling working face for backfilling. Gangue typically
comes from gangue mountain on the ground, which is from
previously mined work. From the analysis in Section 2, the mining
of the former working face may have caused arsenic and cadmium
pollution, while the gangue accumulated on the ground will pre-
cipitate heavy metals under the influence of acid rain and climate,
and pollute the surrounding environment of the mining area.
Therefore, the use of existing gangue on the ground for gangue
backfilling is not beneficial for reduction of pollution and keep
regional environmental sustainability. The most effective way is
4 H. Li et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 261 (2020) 121259
utilizing the underground transportation system to deal with the
leftover gangue in the underground chamber, while the treated
gangue is transported to the working face for backfilling to realize
the underground gangue not raised. From this perspective, this
paper proposes a mining-selecting-backfilling integrated coal
mining method.
3.2. The technology for lowering of arsenic and cadmium
contamination during mining
The mining-selecting-backfilling integrated coal mining method
means an integration of the completion of coal mining, raw coal
sorting, gangue backfilling, integrating coal mining, coal prepara-
tion, and backfilling (Fig. 4). The steps are as follows:
1) Underground coal is mined with coal mining machine, and
transported to underground chamber via the transportation
system;
2) In the underground washing chamber, the raw coal is separated
from the gangue with the raw coal sorting system. Next, the
gangue is transported to the gangue centralized transportation
lane;
3) The underground gangue during the excavation is processed
using gangue turning cage yards, and transferred to the gangue
centralized transport lane through the transport sloping wells;
4) The gangues are transported to the backfilling hydraulic support
via the gangue centralized transportation lane, and the working
surface is filled by using the backfilling hydraulic support.
4. The control approach for lowering of cadmium and arsenic
contamination during mining-selecting-backfilling
integrated coal mining technology
From the above analysis, the mining-selecting-backfilling inte-
grated coal mining technology is the optimal way to control the
contamination of cadmium and arsenic during coal mining, which
can avoid the coal gangue accumulation and completely eliminate
the heavy metal pollution of coal gangue, thereby simultaneously
reducing risk of heavy metal contamination caused by under-
ground unmined coal resources. Here, it is mainly studied the
design method of mining-selecting-backfilling integrated coal
mining technology to limit the growth height of mining fissures
and reduce the contamination of cadmium and arsenic.
Fig. 4. Workflow of mining-selecting-backfilling integrated coal mining method.
4.1. The calculation method for the reduction of cadmium and
arsenic contamination during mining-selecting-backfilling
It can be known from Section 2 that the critical point to lowering
cadmium and arsenic contamination by mining-selecting-
backfilling integrated coal mining technology is how to avoid the
development of mining fractures into aquifers. The main factors
affecting the damage height of overburden rock during gangue
backfilling are as follows: the amount of roof subsidence before
backfilling, the roofing distance from the gangue backfill, the
relative compaction of the gangue backfill, and the remaining
compression rate of the gangue backfill. The calculation of the
backfilling rate ε has comprehensively considered the amount of
roof subsidence before backfilling mt , the roofing distance from the
gangue backfill mq , and the compression amount of gangue mk . The
formula can be expressed as:
m  ðmt þ mt þ mt Þ
ε¼ (1)
m
The backfilling rate is an important evaluation index for control
of overlying strata movement and surface subsidence of gangue
backfilling mining. The backfilling rate is the proportion of the ul-
timate compressed height after filling gangue in the goaf is fully
settled under the overlying strata to the mining height (Zhang and
Geng, 2014; Guo et al., 2014; Zhang et al., 2015). Thus, the critical
point to control mining fracture development can moderate the
contamination of cadmium and arsenic during the mining-
selecting-backfilling integrated coal mining technology is to
reasonably design the backfilling rate. Assuming m as the coal seam
height, hr as the final sinking of the roof, so the filling rate ε can be
expressed as:
m  hr
ε¼ (2)
m
Consequently, the actual thickness of coal after backfilling has
that mc ¼ hr ¼ mð1  εÞ.
Besides, there exists the relationship between the thickness of
coal seam and the maximum growth height of mining fissures and
in the caving mining of slightly inclined and inclined coal seams
(slope of coal seam 54 C) (He et al., 1991):
Hw ¼ f ðmÞ (3)
Considering the actual mining thickness of mc ¼ mð1  εÞ, there
 H. Li et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 261 (2020) 121259 5

Table 1
The relationship between the maximum growth height of the water-flowing fissure area and backfilling rate of gently inclined and inclined coal seams produced
by the mining-selecting-backfilling integrated coal mining technology.

Strata lithology Empirical formula 1 Empirical formula 2

P pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
P ffi
Hard strata 100 mð1  εÞ Hm ¼ 30 mð1  εÞ þ 10
Hli ¼ P ±8:9
1:2 mð1  εÞ þ 2:0
P pP
ffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
Medium-hard strata 100 mð1  εÞ Hm ¼ 20 mð1  εÞ þ 10
Hli ¼ P ±5:6
1:6 mð1  εÞ þ 3:6
P pP
ffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
Soft strata 100 mð1  εÞ Hm ¼ 10 mð1  εÞ þ 5
Hli ¼ P ±4:0
3:1 mð1  εÞ þ 5:0

is the relationship in the mining thickness and the maximum

growth height of mining fissures in gently inclined and inclined
coal seam when using mining-selecting-backfilling integrated coal
mining method:

Hw ¼ f ðmc Þ ¼ f ðmð1  εÞÞ (4)

From formula (4), it can be known that the height of mining
fissure growth is directly related to the backfilling rate. It can be
attained of the relation between the maximum growth height of
the water-flowing fissure area and the backfilling rate for the gently
inclined and inclined coal seams produced by the mining-selecting-
backfilling integrated coal mining method, see Table 1.

4.2. Simulation calculation and analysis

Assuming that the lithology of the overlying rock is medium

hard in a certain research area, the coal mining height mis 4 m, and
the distance of overburden aquifer to coal seam is 30 m. From
Table 1, the relationship can be calculated for the maximum mining
fissure development height and the backfilling rate in the mining-
selecting-backfilling integrated coal mining technology, see Fig. 5.
For Fig. 5, it indicates that the calculated result from Eq. (2) in
Table 1 is larger than the value from Eq. (1), and for safety reasons,
the maximum value of Eq. (1) and Eq. (2) is usually taken as the
growth height of the water-flowing fracture area. Also, with the
enhanced backfilling rate in mining-selecting-backfilling inte- Fig. 6. Procedures for lowering of cadmium and arsenic contamination during mining-
grated mining, the development height of mining fissures gradually selecting-backfilling integrated coal mining technology.

decreases. Considering that the distance of the coal seam and

overlying aquifer in this example is 30 m, in order to avoid
overburden strata does not exceed 30 m. For Fig. 5, it can be seen
connection between working face and overlying strata aquifers and
that in this example, the backfilling rate must be greater than 75%
also to control cadmium and arsenic contamination in the mining,
in order to confirm that the development height of the mining
it should guarantee that the mining crack maximum height in
fissures does not exceed 30 m.

4.3. Design process for lowering of arsenic and cadmium

contamination during mining-selecting-backfilling

For the example calculation procedure, with extracting coal

resources based on the mining-selecting-backfilling integrated coal
mining method, the process of minimizing the potential contami-
nation of cadmium and arsenic during mining is shown in Fig. 6.

5. Real application

5.1. Experimental area

Wugou Coal Mine of Wanbei Coal Power Group is located in Xi

Fig. 5. Relationship between maximum growth height of mining fissures and back-
filling rate obtained by simulation calculation.
County, Anhui, with area of 21.74 km2. Its center is 35 km away from
Suzhou and 50 km away from Huaibei City. In addition, the west
side is neighbored to Linhuan Mining Area of Huaibei Mining Area
Group. Also, the geographical coordinate is located at 116 360 07E00
to 116 390 5800 while the latitude is from 33 300 0500 to 33 330 36".
Currently, it chiefly mines 10 coal seams, and the measured results
6 H. Li et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 261 (2020) 121259
indicate that the 10 coal is primarily grade 1 and grade 3 arsenic-
containing coal (0e9 mg/g) and low-cadmium coal (Cd ¼ 0.07 mg/g).
The 10th coal seam is low cadmium-containing coal and grade 3
arsenic-containing coal, with the first mining workface of CT101.
However, there is an aquifer above the working face of CT101. This
aquifer not only seriously threatens the safe mining of the CT101
working face, but also enhances the possible contamination of
cadmium and arsenic. Thus, in order to safely mine the designed
coal resources of the CT101 working face and lower the contami-
nation of cadmium and arsenic during mining, the mining-
selecting-backfilling integrated technology can be used to extract
coal resources.
The coal thickness of CT101 is 2.2e4.66m, with average thick-
ness of 3.5m. The coal seam has an inclination of 0e12 , with an
average inclination angle of 5 . The length of working lane is 587m,
the cut-off length is 100m, and the average depth is 313.495m.
There are farmlands above the CT101 workface, without the large
rivers passed through, but the artificial canals are crisscross.
5.2. Hydrogeological conditions of mine
The Wugou coal mine is a completely concealed deposit covered
by loose layers of the third and fourth series. From the drilling re-
sults, the overburden of the CT101 workface can be divided into
four aquifers and three aquifuges from the bottom, as shown in
Fig. 7.
The depth of the third aquifuge floor is 225.50e257.20m, with
the average thickness of 61.5m; The clay of this layer has good
plasticity, strong expansibility, large thickness, stable distribution,
good aquifuge ability, so it is an important aquifuge layer in the
area. Due to its existence, it loses the hydraulic connection with the
three aquifers, surface water, atmospheric precipitation, the four
water and coal seams beneath it.
The buried depth of the fourth aquifer floor is 262.36e287.05m,
with an average depth of 273.40m, while the thickness of the
water-containing sand layer is 6.12e39.19m, with an average
thickness of 20.7m. Generally, the fourth aquifer has high mud
content, poor permeability, poor recharge conditions, and typically
low water content. Since this aquifer is overlaid on the coal seam, it
Fig. 7. Aquifers and aquifuges model of CT101 workface.
threatens the safe mining of the CT101 workface and enhances the
probable risks of the contamination of cadmium and arsenic.
For the base rock, the thickness is 35.17m according to drilling.
Thus, the waterproof coal rock pillars thickness should be lesser
than that of the bedrock to safely mining 10 coal and prevent the
cadmium and arsenic elements of unmined coal and mining resi-
dues to enter aquifer. The coal rock pillar of waterproof is the
summation of the water-flowing fissure height and the protection
layer thickness, which is for increasing the security of coal mining
under practical bodies, and the value correlates to the overburden
rock lithology. Deliberating the CT101 workface rock lithology is
medium hard, it can be seen that the thickness of the protective
layer Hb ¼ 3mc from the “Regulations of Coal Mining under Build-
ings, Water Bodies and Railways and the Design of Protective Coal
Pillar”, wheremc is backfilling mining equivalent thickness.
5.3. Effects of design and control
From Table 1, the formulas for calculating the development
heights of the mining fissure of medium-hard rock layer during the
mining-selecting-backfilling integrated mining are:
100mc1
Empirical formula 1: Hli ¼ ±5:6
1:6mc1 þ 3:6
pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
Empirical formula 2: Hm ¼ 20 mc2 þ 10
In order to diminish the possible risks of cadmium and arsenic
contamination during backfilling mining, the backfilling rate
should be rational designed. The specific calculation process is
shown in Table 2.
From the analysis of Table 2, it can be found that in order to
safely mine the CT101 workface of the Wugou coal mine, circum-
vent the hydraulic connection between the overlying aquifer and
the goaf, and diminish the possible risks of cadmium and arsenic
contamination during the mining, the backfilling rate in coal
mining-selecting-backfilling integrated mining shall not be lower
than 66.5%. That is, as long as the backfilling rate is greater than
66.5%, the contamination of cadmium and arsenic in unmined coal
and residues can be significantly reduced. Meanwhile, the coal
gangue accumulation can be avoided and heavy metal pollution in
coal gangue can be completely eliminated.
As CT101 is the first test mining face of 10th coal seam, in order
to ensure safe production and running-in mining process with high
backfilling rate, the final backfilling rate is 80%, while the actual
measured rate is 82%. In addition, the borehole washing method is
used to measure the maximum development height of the water-
flowing fissure area on the CT101 workface. The tested results
indicate that the development height of the water-flowing fracture
area in the CT101 face is 6.41e11.85m, which is smaller than the
thickness of the bedrock.
The working face of CT101 is finished on April 8, 2013. After
completion, the level of water and cadmium and arsenic content of
fourth aquifer are continuously monitored. The content of cad-
mium and arsenic kept at the constant form the collected out-
comes. The arsenic content in the aquifer can be established based
on the atomic fluorescence method specified by the Chinese
Ecological Environment Standard, while the cadmium content in
the aquifer can be determined acquired by graphite furnace atomic
absorption spectrophotometry. Also, the aquifer is not connected
with the goaf. The field test results indicate that the mining-
selecting-backfilling method can control the contamination of
cadmium and arsenic.
 H. Li et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 261 (2020) 121259
Table 2
Backfilling rate design of CT101 workface for reducing the possible risks of cadmium and arsenic contamination.
Thickness of the protective layer/m
Empirical formula 1 10.5
Empirical formula 2 10.5
6. Conclusions
In this work, a technical approach is proposed to lower the
contamination of cadmium and arsenic from analyzing the poten-
tial threats of cadmium and arsenic during mining. Also, this work
studies the control approaches and design procedure of lowering
the contamination of cadmium and arsenic by this technology, and
verifies the effectiveness of this method via practical examples. The
principal findings are summarized as follows:
1) Two type contaminations of cadmium and arsenic can occur in
the process of underground coal mining: 1) the development of
mining fissures to the ground causes the ground water or at-
mospheres to link with the goaf, thus bringing the contamina-
tion of cadmium and arsenic. 2) Mining fissures spread to
overlying strata aquifer, which can cause the connection be-
tween the aquifer of the overburden strata and the goaf,
resulting to contamination.
2) The mining-selecting-backfilling integrated technology directly
fills the gangue to the goaf to control the mining fissure in the
underground, avoids the coal gangue accumulation and spon-
taneous combustion, eliminates the contamination of heavy
metal of the coal gangue and reduces its contamination risk of
heavy metal induced by underground unmined coal and resi-
dues. From mining and hydrogeological conditions for the
working face and the theory of equivalent mining height, the
backfilling rate of mining-selecting-backfilling integrated min-
ing should be reasonably designed to guarantee that the mining
fracture does not connect with surface water, overlying aquifer
and atmosphere. This can control the contamination of cad-
mium and arsenic caused by mining activities and reduce this
contamination of coal and residues during the mining.
3) The backfilling rate of CT101 workface in Wugou Coal Mine is
greater than 66.5%, and this could circumvent the hydraulic
connection between the overlying aquifer and the goaf, thus
lowering the contamination of cadmium and arsenic in the
mining process. The tested findings also verifies the effective-
ness and feasibility of this method in the control of contami-
nation of cadmium and arsenic.
Declaration of competing interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing
financial interests or personal relationship that could have
appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
CRediT authorship contribution statement
Huaizhan Li: Methodology, Writing - original draft. Jianfeng
Zha: Formal analysis, Writing - review & editing. Hongzhen Zhang:
Methodology, Writing - review & editing, Supervision. Nanshan
Zheng: Validation, Visualization, Writing - review & editing.
Guangli Guo: Conceptualization, Supervision, Funding acquisition,
Writing - review & editing.
7
Distance from aquifer to coal seam/m Equivalent mining height/m Backfilling rate/%
35.17 1.506 57%
35.17 1.1725 66.5%
Acknowledgements
This work was funded by the Key Technologies Research and
Development Program (Grant No. 2018YFC0604704), National
Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51804301), Natural
Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province (BK20180661) and the
China Postdoctoral Science Foundation Funded Project (Grant No.
2019M660135).
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