Subsurface Environmental Engineering Laboratory, Mining and Minerals Engineering, Virginia Tech Subsurface Environmental Engineering Laboratory During its progress through any underground facility, the quality of air may be adversely affected by mineralogical dusts, a wide spectrum of added gases which can be toxic, flammable or simply asphyxiating, heat and humidity, and ionizing radiation. These pollutants must all be maintained within mandatory threshold limit values in order to protect personnel. This laboratory maintains a suite of equipment for the measurement of such hazards and carries out research into their sources, their behavior within the subsurface environment, the psychological and physical reactions they cause, and potential means of controlling them.
Studies involve the extraction of methane from underground strata.
This is important as a means of producing a clean fuel, improving safety in associated underground mines, and reducing emissions of the gas into the surface atmosphere. Research conducted ranges from fundamental studies of the retention of methane within strata, and its release when distributed, to full-scale field tests.