A study on the carbon dioxide injection into coal seam aiming at enhancing coal bed methane (ECBM) recovery

Abstract

AbstractCoal seams, particularly deep unmineable coal reservoirs, are the most important geological desirable formations to store CO2 for mitigating the emissions of greenhouse gas. An advantage of this process is that a huge quantity of CO2 can be sequestrated and stored at relatively low pressure, which will reduce the amount of storage cost required for creating additional platform to store it. The study on CO2 storage in coal seam to enhance coal bed methane (ECBM) recovery has drawn a lot of attention for its worldwide suitability and acceptability and has been conducted since two decades in many coalmines. This article focuses on the coal seam properties related to CO2 adsorption/desorption, coal swelling/shrinkage, diffusion, porosity and permeability changes, thermodynamic/thermochemical process, flue gas injection, etc. Here, the performance analysis of both CO2 storage and ECBM recovery process in coal matrixes is investigated based on the numerical simulation. In this study, a one-dimensional mathematical model of defining mass balances is used to interpret the gas flow and the gas sorption and describe a geomechanical relationship for determining the porosity and the permeability alteration at the time of gas injection. Vital insights are inspected by considering the relevant gas flow dynamics during the displacement and the influences of coal swelling and shrinkage on the ECBM operation. In particular, pure CO2 causes more displacement that is more efficient in terms of total CH4 recovery, whereas the addition of N2 to the mixture assists to make quicker way of the initial methane recovery. However, this study will support future research aspirants working on the same topic by providing a clear conception and limitation about this study.