The influence of methane emission and hard coal production on air quality and greenhouse effect in 1994-2017 in the Upper Silesian Coal Basin (Poland)

The Upper Silesian Coal Basin (USCB) is the largest coal basin in Poland and one of the largest in Europe. It is the most industrialized region in Poland. The main natural resource and energy raw material is hard coal which was produced by 65 mines in the early nineties. The USCB geology is very diverse and not homogeneous. Coal deposits situated in the central, southern and western regions are mostly covered by impermeable Miocene deposits which helped methane (CH4) to accumulate in the past. Methane is one of the most dangerous natural hazard in Polish underground mining because it is explosive gas. CH4 is also the second strongest greenhouse gas after the carbon dioxide, but its radiative power is 21-25 times stronger than the radiative power of CO2. Polish coal mines releases 568.9 million m3 (average) of CH4 yearly and it provides to greenhouse effect increasing. From one year to another, the Upper Silesian coal mines are going to extract hard coal from deeper seams when the methane content is much higher. To keep workers safe, CH4 need to be captured and released to the open air atmosphere or used to power and heat production.