This article presents the results of analysis of the hazards posed by coal mine dust and methane in the coal preparation plants of hard coal mines in Poland. It was shown how the number of workplaces in plants at risk of coal dust explosion and the highest permissible dust concentration changed in the period from 2003 to 2022 when compared with coal production. The methodology of assessing mine dust hazards was based on hazard ratios related to one million tons of hard coal enriched in preparation plants. As a result of the analysis, it was found that the explosion hazard index with zone 20 showed an increasing trend in the analyzed period, while the explosion hazard indices with zones 21 and 22 analyzed together and the maximum permissible dust concentration showed decreasing trends following a decrease in hard coal production. In the case of methane, no zone 0 explosion hazards were found, and there were only a few instances of zone 1 explosion hazards. However, it was determined that the explosion hazard index for zone 2 showed an increasing trend during the analyzed period, which is directly proportional to the coal produced and is a result of increasing depth of mining.

The operating costs of breaking coal particles into fine powder, to achieve optimum combustion for the boilers in a power plant, are made up of power input to carry on an energy intensive comminution mechanism and to overcome friction losses within pulverising machines. The operating costs also include the cost of the replacement of the processing system’s components due to wear. This study presents the development and application of an attrition test machine that enables an investigation of the factors that influence pulverizing efficiency. The attrition tester simulates grinding conditions in real vertical spindle mills. In this kind of mill, as with the tester, the size reduction process results from a shearing action during the redistribution of the coal particles. The redistribution and attrition within the coal bed are forced by movement of the rollers (or by a disc rotation, in the case of the tester). The testing method was oriented toward mechanical properties, i.e., internal friction shear strength, abrasiveness and grindability. This method enables facilitated testing procedures and a more exact simulation of grinding in vertical spindle coal mills. Ball-race mills and Loesche roller mills were used.

Achieving high shares of variable renewable energy in coal transition regions requires large-scale energy storage solutions that can be deployed rapidly and cost-effectively. This study addresses the pressing need to identify underground infrastructure by developing a national-scale screening framework for adiabatic compressed air energy storage (A-CAES) integrated with thermal energy storage (TES) in post-mining shafts. A multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) tool is constructed to rank active and non-decommissioned shafts using eight engineering-relevant parameters grouped into geometry, casing condition, and hydrogeology, enabling transparent down-selection under limited and heterogeneous data. Applied to the Polish shaft inventory (228 shafts), the approach identifies 52 priority candidates and estimates a total storage potential of approximately 4100 MWh for systems with a maximum air storage pressure of 5 MPa and a round-trip efficiency of about 67%, demonstrating the value of a rapid decision filter before resource-intensive geomechanical modeling and site-specific design. The results support a shift in decommissioning practice from irreversible backfilling toward targeted conservation of high-value shafts for energy-storage reuse, strengthening the circular-economy rationale and contributing to just-transition pathways in coal basins. The proposed screening tool provides a practical, reproducible basis for investors and public authorities to prioritize assets and accelerate early project development for shaft-based A-CAES systems.

W artykule przedstawione zostały wyniki analizy zagrożeń hałasem w zakładach przeróbki mechanicznej kopalń węgla kamiennego w okresie od 2003 do 2022 roku. Przeanalizowano zapadalność na choroby zawodowe w górnictwie węgla kamiennego ogółem i zakładach przeróbki węgla oraz zapadalność na choroby zawodowe, których przyczyną był hałas. Przeanalizowano także liczby stanowisk pracy zagrożonych hałasem w zakładach przeróbki w analizowanym okresie. Ze względu na dynamiczne zmiany organizacyjne w polskim górnictwie węglowym w okresie prowadzonej analizy skutkujące zmniejszoną liczbą kopalń, zakładów przeróbki mechanicznej węgla, a tym samym liczbą stanowisk pracy w tych zakładach oraz zmniejszeniem wydobycia węgla o blisko 50% zaproponowano wskaźnik oceny stanu zagrożenia hałasem WTH na stanowiskach pracy odniesiony do sumarycznej ilości węgla wzbogacanego w zakładach przeróbki w poszczególnych latach. Najniższą wartość tego wskaźnika wynoszącą 4,4 (1/mln Mg) odnotowano w 2004 roku, a wartość najwyższą 8,6 (1/mln Mg) w roku 2022.