About This Item

Share This Item

The AAPG/Datapages Combined Publications Database

Environmental Geosciences (DEG)

Abstract

Environmental Geosciences, V. 12, No. 3 (September 2005), P. 165-175.

Copyright copy2005. The American Association of Petroleum Geologists/Division of Environmental Geosciences. All rights reserved.

DOI:10.1306/eg.05130404003

Carbon dioxide development in aerobic parts of lignite mining dumps: The influence of rising groundwater in the Cospuden–Zwenkau dump: II—Quantitative models

W. Glaesser,1 I. Lerche2

1Institut fuer Geophysik und Geologie, University of Leipzig, Talstrasse 35, D-04103 Leipzig, Germany
2Institut fuer Geophysik und Geologie, University of Leipzig, Talstrasse 35, D-04103 Leipzig, Germany; [email protected]

AUTHORS

W. Glaesser is a university professor at the University of Leipzig and a senior scientist for environmental mining problems at the Umwelt Forschungs Zentrum of Halle–Wittenberg. His main interests are hydrogeology and environmental contamination on which subjects he has several publications.

I. Lerche is currently the Deutsche Akademische Austausch Dienst Visiting Professor at the University of Leipzig. His main interests are risk and hazard assessment in the hydrocarbon and environmental areas. He has published extensively on many aspects of these problems and other geology problems, with 18 books currently in print.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This work was partially supported by the Deutsche Akademische Austausch Dienst through their award of a Visiting Professorship to I. Lerche at the University of Leipzig, which is also thanked for its contribution to this support. Werner Ehrmann is particularly thanked for the courtesies and support he and his group at Leipzig have made available during the course of this work. Support from the Deutsches Forschung Gemeinschaft (DFG) under grants DFG-Gl L233/7-1 and GL 233 to W. Glaesser at the Umweltforschungszentrum, Leipzig–Halle, are also gratefully appreciated. Reviews by D. M. Bush, C. Johnson, and D. T. King were very helpful in sharpening the focus and presentation of the work.

ABSTRACT

The variation of carbon dioxide in the Cospuden–Zwenkau dump, in the southwest of Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is caused by a variety of reasons, some having to do with the different types of residual mining spoils used as lower and upper dump materials, and some having to do with the dynamical evolution of conditions both within the dump and externally as time progresses.

The purpose of this article is to show how one can quantitatively handle such variations of external and internal conditions, even when one does not know with precision whether, for instance, a leak exists and the fraction of gas it can leak. Nevertheless, one can construct model behaviors that allow the exploration of the probable consequences of such likely leaks. In addition, the variation of the lake-level pressure, the variation of the seasonal swing of temperature, and the variation in the availability of the supply of carbon dioxide are all factors that one can investigate to determine their influence on the saturation of carbon dioxide in the dump waters, the amount of free-Previous HitphaseNext Hit gas that one anticipates to be in the dump, and the potential loss of carbon dioxide from the dump to the atmosphere. Results of such investigations are presented here so that one can determine the influence of each factor in the potential release of carbon dioxide and also the residual free-Previous HitphaseTop gas still trapped in the dump, as well as the amount still in solution with water. The general procedures are applicable to any dump involved in carbon dioxide generation and/or release.

Pay-Per-View Purchase Options

The article is available through a document delivery service. Explain these Purchase Options.

Watermarked PDF Document: $14
Open PDF Document: $24