Dissemination & News
24-28.06.2025
From 24 to 28 June 2025 (Tuesday to Saturday), tests were conducted on a VAM utilisation installation under the conditions of the Experimental Mine “Barbara”.
The tests consisted of simulating ventilation parameters (methane and dust concentrations) that occur in real conditions in underground hard coal mines in Poland and Romania.
This simulation was made possible by the appropriate dosing of methane and dust into the ventilation air in the underground workings of the Experimental Mine “Barbara”.
The tests allowed us to obtain all the data relevant to the feasibility of implementing the tested technology in industry.
15-18.06.2025
On 15-18 June 2025, the third meeting of the PROVAM project partners was held in Oviedo, Spain, to discuss the progress of the project.
The meeting was organised to exchange information between partners and present the results of the research conducted so far within the project. The meeting took the form of reporting on the progress of work within individual work packages of the project. The presentations were given by the coordinators of individual research tasks. During the meeting, representatives of GIG-PIB presented the progress of work carried out within WP4. This work includes testing the methane utilisation system installed at EM Barbara and examining its operating parameters and the impact of the system on the mine's ventilation network. The presentation outlined the research plan and methods for monitoring the system's operating parameters, as well as providing details of the upcoming tests.
The meeting ended with a discussion on the links between work packages, ensuring the proper flow of information between project partners, and setting goals for the next six months of the project.
On the second day of the meeting, the project coordinator presented the rules for preparing the upcoming reports. The host of the meeting invited the participants to a site visit to a bio methane energy production facility.
15.05.2025
RFCS conference on European Coal in Transition, Jastrzębie Zdrój
Coal mine methane and the recent EU Methane Regulation were a key focus of the meeting. The ProVAM project, whose main goal is to develop methods and guidelines for the capture of methane from ventilation air, was presented. Additionally, a virtual visit to the Barbara Mine was presented, featuring a ProVAM installation. The challenges of implementing the EU Methane Regulation were addressed by a representative of the European Commission: “Today, it is crucial that the methodology for measuring methane emissions is uniform across all mine sites. We have thousands of closed mines that need to be monitored. The most difficult is ventilation methane – its concentration is low, but the airflows are huge.”
9-12.12.2024
The ProVAM installation works and commissioning of DURR VAM unit delivered to EM "Barbara".
Following the completion of the construction work in November, from December 9th onwards, under the supervision of Mr. Johan Johansson from DURR, we successfully went through the installation work and commissioning procedure of the DURR VAM unit delivered to EM "Barbara". After 48 hours of continuous heating, the bed reached a temperature of 1,000oC and we were then able to carry out CH4 oxidation tests with different concentrations up to 0.4%. The commissioning trials were successfully completed on Thursday December 12th 2024 and now everything is ready for the start of ProVAM project testing in January 2025.
13-15.11.2024
XXXI International Scientific and Technical Conference of the Mining Natural Hazards. Jaworze.
The ProVAM Project was presented by Robert Hildebrandt during the XXXI International Scientific and Technical Conference of the Mining Natural Hazards Series organised by “the Central Mining Institute – National Research Institute, the Association of Mining Engineers and Technicians together with the Mining Commission of the Polish Academy of Sciences Branch in Katowice - ” Testing of the VAM utilisation installation under the conditions of Experimental Mine "Barbara" GIG-PIB - Project ProVAM (authored by Robert Hildebrandt, Jacek Skiba and Bartłomiej Jura).
5-6.11.2024
The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), Katowice
The ProVAM Project was showcased at the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) within the “International Workshop on Best Practices in Coal Mine Methane Monitoring, Capture, and Use” in the panel titled VAM Innovations for Abatement and Energy Production.
JSW’s view on VAM projects; potential, needs, and concerns (Mr. Artur Badylak, JSW)
Dürr’s VAM projects (Mr. Christian Eichhorn, Dürr)
06.06.2024
Periodic meeting of the national partners of the project at the Experimental Mine “Barbara” of GIG-PIB.
A meeting of the Polish partners of the ProVAM project was held on 06.06.2024 at the premises of the Experimental Mine “Barbara” GIG-PIB.
During the meeting, the issues of the implementation of the project tasks, cooperation between Partners, emerging potential problems and proposals for their solution were raised.
Cooperation in the exchange of information and the execution of research between Polish partners and all relevant issues from the point of view of project implementation between Polish partners was discussed.
17.04.2024
Presenting of work progress on ProVAM project by Ph.D. Eng. Dominik Bałaga during the meeting of the Power Engineering Mechatronics Section of the Mining Commission of the Polish Academy of Sciences
in Katowice.
On April 17 at ITG KOMAG, a meeting of the Power Engineering Mechatronics Section of the Mining Commission of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Katowice was held, where Ph.D. Eng. Dominik Bałaga presented work progress on ProVAM project. The presentation received a positive response from the expert group, resulting in high attendance and a lively discussion lasting 1.5 hour.
15.04.2024
"Challenges and Perspectives of World Mining in Times of Uncertainty", Chile.
Presentation at the 105th Meeting of the World Mining Congress International Organizing Committee within the Seminar “Challenges and Perspectives of World Mining in Times of Uncertainty”, titled “VAM in EU Coal mines-from hazard challenges to economic advantages” – “ProVAM (Santiago de Chile, 15 April 2024).
18-24.03.2024
World Methane Forum in Geneva.
On 18-24 March 2024, the World Methane Forum was held in Geneva, the session dedicated to the utilisation of methane from coal mine ventilation (VAM) was an opportunity to present the ProVAM project. In the photo, from left: Dr Jacek Skiba (GIG-PIB), Dr Dominik Bałaga (KOMAG), Prof Alicja Krzemień (GIG-PIB), Director Carsten Walddoerfer (DURR), Prof Pedro Riesgo (UniOvi)
11.01.2024
2nd technical visit to exhaust shafts at: “Szczygłowice” and “Pniówek” coal mines.
The experts from University Oviedo (Pedro Riesgo Fernandez), GIG-PIB (Jacek Skiba, Arnold Przystolik, Alicja Krzemień), ITG KOMAG (Dominik Bałaga, Dariusz Czerniak, Michał Siegmund), IMG PAN (Jerzy Krawczyk, Mateusz Wieliński, Jacek Sobczak), together with the JSW SA specialists (Director Artur Badylak, Sebastian Swaczyna and the supervisory staff of the main fan station), conducted working visits to the exhaust shafts of the “Szczygłowice” coal mine (Shaft VI) and the “Pniówek” coal mine (Shaft V).
The visit aimed to perform preliminary tests for dust measurements, air parameters and composition of the exhaust air on the diffuser of Shaft VI, “Szczyłowice” coal mine (see photo). Later on the visit continued in “Pniówek” coal mine to learn about a different technical solutions’ example of a ventilation station. Finally, the experts could see and examine the special conditions to install a future VAM installation next to the Shaft V, “Pniówek” coal mine (see photo).
21.12.2023
1st technical visit to exhaust shafts at: “Budryk” and “Szczygłowice” coal mines.
The experts from ITG KOMAG (Dominik Bałaga, Dariusz Czerniak, Michał Siegmund), IMG PAN (Jerzy Krawczyk, Mateusz Wieliński), together with the JSW SA specialists (Sebastian Swaczyna, Piotr Jarek and the supervisory staff of the main fan station), conducted working visits to the exhaust shafts of the “Budryk” coal mine (Shaft V) and the “Szczygłowice” coal mine (Shaft VI).
The main fan station at the “Budryk’s” ventilation shaft V is a representative example of a station equipped with radial fans of the WPK 5.0 type, connected to large reinforced concrete diffusers with an upward-facing outlet. In turn, the main fan station at ventilation shaft VI of the “Szczygłowice” coal mine is an example of a station equipped with WPG-240/1.4-A type fans, connected to steel diffusers with the outlet in the horizontal direction. The visit aimed to learn the possibilities of testing the exhaust air (on the diffuser), which will allow to prepare a preliminary methodology for dust and air composition parameters’ measurements and before proceeding with the tests under task 1.3.
23-24.10.2023
The ProVAM kick-off meeting.
The project was officially launched during the 2-days meeting. 1st day was devoted to an overview of the project and work distribution among partners as well as an online meeting with the project officer from the Research Executive Agency. 2nd day of the meeting was hosted by GIG-PIB “Barbara” Mine, where the technical visit took place. DURR company representatives, as well as other partners, were invited to see the dedicated site where the VAM emissions tests will be performed.
