LECTURE 3

THE CONTENTS OF THIS LECTURE ARE AS FOLLOWS:

1.0 HYDROGEN SULPHIDE (H2S)
1.1 General Properties
1.2 Physiological Effects
1.3 Detection of H2S
2.0 NITROUS FUMES (NOX)
2.1 General Properties
2.2 Physiological Effects
2.3 Detection of NO2
3.0 SULPHUR DIOXIDE (SO2)
3.1 General Properties
3.2 Physiological Effects
3.3 Detection of SO2
4.0 HYDROGEN
4.1 Physical Properties
4.2 Sources of Hydrogen in Underground Mines
REFERENCES

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1.0 HYDROGEN SULPHIDE (H2S)

1.1 General Properties
H2S is a gas with a smell similar to that of a rotten egg and has a sweetish
taste with a specific gravity of 1.175. It burns with a light blue flame and is
soluble in water. It is also known as Stink Damp. It is combustible and is
explosive over a wide range of its concentration from 4.3 % to 45.5 %. It is
more poisonous than CO and has a TWA value of 10 ppm and an STEL value
of 15 ppm as per the recommendations of the American Conference of
Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH) and US National Institute of
Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). H2S is not very common in mines
and usually occurs in firedamp and gob fires in sulphurous coal. It is formed
naturally by bacterial/chemical decomposition of organic compounds and is
often detected near stagnant pools of water in underground mines. It may
also occur in natural gas and petroleum reserves and migrate through the
strata in a weakly acidic water solution. In metal mines it is produced by the
action of acidic water on iron pyrites which can be represented by the
equation:
[FeS2 + 2H2O Fe (OH)2 + H2S + S]

1.2 Physiological Effects

Hydrogen sulfide has a very low odor threshold, with its smell being easily
sensed by the human nose at concentrations well below 1 part per million
(ppm) in air. The odor increases as the gas becomes more concentrated, with
the strong rotten egg smell recognizable up to 30 ppm. Above this level, the
gas is reported to have a sickeningly sweet odor up to around 100 ppm.
However, at concentrations above 100 ppm, a person's ability to detect the
gas is affected by rapid temporary paralysis of the Olfactory nerves (the first

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pair cranial nerves that conduct impulses from the mucous membranes of the
nose to the olfactory bulb) in the nose, leading to a loss of the sense of
smell. This means that the gas can be present at dangerously high
concentrations, with no perceivable odor. Prolonged exposure to lower
concentrations can also result in similar effects of olfactory fatigue. This
unusual property of hydrogen sulfide makes it extremely dangerous to rely
totally on the sense of smell to detect the presence of the gas. The
physiological effects of H2S poisoning are given in Table 1.
Table 1 Physiological effects of H2S poisoning
Concentration

Effects

of H2S (ppm)
50-100

Slight irritation to eyes and respiratory tract, headache

200

Intensified irritation of nose and throat

500

Serious inflammation of eyes, nasal secretions, coughing,

palpitations, fainting

600

Chest pains due to corrosion of respiratory system, may be

fatal

700

Depression, coma, probable death

1000

Paralysis of respiratory system, very rapid death

A person who recovers from H2S poisoning may have conjunctivitis and
bronchitis for a long period after recovery.
Although hydrogen sulfide is an extremely poisonous gas, miners are rarely
affected by it. This is mainly because it seldom occurs in dangerous
concentrations and also a very small concentration can be easily detected by
virtue of smell.
1.3 Detection of H2S
H2S is easily detected by its smell at very low concentrations of up to
0.000075%. Another detection test for this gas is done by exposing a filter

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paper soaked in lead acetate solution to an atmosphere containing H2S gas.

The filter paper turns brown and then black if the concentration of the gas is
sufficiently high. The M.S.A. H2S detector is an accurate instrument for
detecting H2S. It consists of a glass tube filled with white granules of
activated aluminum oxide coated with silver cyanide. When gas containing
H2S is drawn through the tube, the gas combines with silver cyanide forming
black silver sulphide which turns the granules black. The percentage is
calculated with the help of a scale placed along the side of the tube which
measures the length up to which the change of color has taken place.
2.0 NITROUS FUMES (NOx)
2.1 General Properties
Nitrous fumes are rarely found in mines and mainly consist of nitric oxide,
nitrogen dioxide and nitrogen tetra-oxide. The original product is nitric oxide
(NO) which quickly combines with oxygen to form nitrogen dioxide (NO2),
which has a pungent smell like that of fuming nitric acid. As NO2 cools down
it is slowly converted to nitrogen tetra-oxide (N2O4), which is a colorless gas.
The specific gravity of NO is 1.036, specific gravity of NO2 is 1.519 and
specific gravity of N2O4 is 1.588. The nitrous fumes are highly soluble in
water. These fumes are very poisonous and TWA value for NO is 25 ppm, for
NO2 is 50 ppm and for N2O4 is 3 ppm as per the recommendations of the
American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH) and US
National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). The nitrous
fumes are mainly produced by explosives containing nitroglycerine and in
exhaust fumes of diesel locomotives. They are also found in shafts and
tunnels where heavy shot firing takes place in a confined place.

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2.2 Physiological Effects

The brown fumes of NO2 get dissolved in water and produce nitrous acid
(HNO2) and nitric acid (HNO3). These acids cause irritation and corrosive
effect on eyes and respiratory system.
Various physiological effects of these fumes at different concentrations are
given in Table 2.
Table 2 Physiological
concentrations

effects

of

Concentration

nitrous

fumes

at

different

Effects

of NO2 (ppm)
60

Minor throat irritation

100

Coughing may commence

150

Severe discomfort, may cause pneumonia later

200

Conditions are likely to be fatal to human beings

The first-aid for NO2 poisoning includes:

o

Administration of oxygen to the affected person.

The person should rest and should not be allowed to move.

The person should be kept warm so that body temperature doesnt

fall to a lower value.

2.3 Detection of NO2

The common test for nitrous fumes is to soak a filter paper with starch and
potassium iodide solution and expose it to the air containing nitrous fumes.
The paper turns blue by the liberation of iodine. Tube type detectors are also
available which indicate the percentage of nitrous fumes by the length of
change in color in the tube. For example tubes manufactured by Drager use
diphenyl benzidine as the reactant.

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3.0 SULPHUR DIOXIDE (SO2):

3.1 General Properties
This is a colorless gas with a very suffocating odor and a specific gravity of
2.264. It is highly soluble in water. The TWA value for this gas is 2 ppm and
STEL value is 5 ppm as per the recommendations of the American
Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH) and US National
Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). It is found in smaller
quantities in afterdamp (Afterdamp is a mechanical mixture of gases found in
a mine after an explosion. Afterdamp contains nitrogen and carbon dioxide as
the chief constituents along with carbon monoxide, methane, water vapour,
hydrogen, oxygen and small quantities of H2S and SO2. A typical composition
of afterdamp may be as follows: CO-1.5%, CO2-8%, O2-5%, CH4- 0.3%, H20.2%, N2-85%) in some coal mines, but occurs abundantly in sulphide ore
mines with fires. Blasting in rich sulphide ores also produces large quantities
of SO2 and H2S. It is also released from the exhaust of internal combustion
engines.
3.2 Physiological Effects
SO2 is an irritating and toxic gas. At low concentrations it causes intense
burning sensation to the eyes and the respiratory tracts. Table 3 gives the
observed effects at various concentrations of sulphur dioxide.
Table 3 Physiological effects of SO2 poisoning
Concentration

Effects

of SO2 (ppm)
20

Irritation of eyes and respiratory system

50

Severe burning sensation in eyes, nose and throats

400

Immediately dangerous to life

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3.3 Detection of SO2

SO2 can easily be detected by its odor even at low concentrations of
0.0005%. However, tube-type detectors using iodine, starch, and potassium
iodide as reagent are available for more accurate estimation.
4.0 HYDROGEN
4.1 Physical Properties:
It is colorless, odorless, tasteless and non-toxic in nature. It is the lightest of
all gases. It has specific gravity of 0.07. This makes it rise to the roof.
4.2 Sources of Hydrogen in Underground Mines:
The sources of hydrogen in underground mines includes:i.

Charging of batteries

ii.

Action of acids on metals

iii.

Action of water on hot coal (as water gas) or even some of the hot
minerals

iv.

Rarely as strata gas and in afterdamp

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Fig 1.Expolsibility diagram for hydrogen (after Coward and Jones,

1952)
The explosibility curve of hydrogen is shown in Fig. 1. As can be seen from
the figure, the explosibility range of hydrogen is 4-74% in air. Also, it burns
/ignites at 480 C, lower than that of methane. It is also important to
note that it may ignite at oxygen concentration in air as low as 5%. Methane
requires at least 12% of oxygen in air for ignition. Further, hydrogen
requires almost half of the energy required by methane to ignite.
REFERENCES
Bolz, R. E. and Tuve, G. L., eds., Handbook of Tables for Applied Engineering
Science, 2nd ed. CRC Press, Cleveland
Deshmukh, D. J. (2008); Elements of Mining Technology, Vol. II; Denett
& Co., Nagpur, India.

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Hartman, H. L., Mutmansky, J. M. & Wang, Y. J. (1982); Mine Ventilation

and Air Conditioning; John Wiley & Sons, New York.
McPherson, M. J. (1993); Subsurface
Engineering; Chapman & Hall, London.

Ventilation

and

Environmental

Misra G.B. (1986); Mine Environment and Ventilation; Oxford University

Press, Calcutta, India.
Ramlu, M. A. (1991); Mine fires, Explosions, Rescue, Recovery and
Inundations; Oxford and IBH Publishing Co. Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi.
Vutukuri, V. S. & Lama, R. D. (1986); Environmental Engineering in Mines;
Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

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