The binary gas sorption in the bituminous coal of the Huaibei Coalfield in China

Abstract

Knowledge of the gas sorption characteristics of a coal not only helps to explain the mechanism of enhanced coalbed methane recovery but also provides an important basis for simultaneous coal and gas extraction. In consequence, the pure and binary gas excess sorption capacity of methane, carbon dioxide, and nitrogen of bituminous coal samples derived from the Xutuan Coal Mine in Huaibei coalfield, in Anhui Province in China, was measured using the volumetric method. The fitting analysis of the pure gas Langmuir adsorption model was carried out. The binary gas excess sorption measurement showed that the final sorption capacity of bituminous samples was the same no matter what the gas adsorption order of competitive adsorption and displacement adsorption. Hence, coal gas adsorption is physical adsorption, i.e. the different adsorption and desorption process of gas molecules does not affect the final adsorption amount of coal to each component of gas. Using the fitting parameters obtained by the Langmuir equation, the extended Langmuir equation was used to predict the adsorption capacity for each component of the binary gas. The comparison between predicted adsorption capacity and measured adsorption capacity showed that the extended Langmuir equation can better describe the trend of the adsorption isotherm curves of a binary gas under different pressures. The separation coefficient and displacement coefficient were defined from Langmuir adsorption theory. The separation coefficient involves the proportion of each component in the free phase and the proportion of each component in the adsorption phase. The displacement coefficient involves the displacement ability of gas molecules at adsorption sites by free gas molecules.