Study of Parameters Affecting Enhanced Coal Bed Methane Recovery

Abstract

Laboratory and field scale trials conducted so far indicate that injection of CO₂ and N₂ into deep coalbeds has the potential to enhance coalbed methane (ECBM) recovery while simultaneously sequestering CO₂. The work has identified that the fundamental processes involved in CO₂ sequestration/CBM recovery in deep coalbeds are not fully understood and further research is needed to advance this technology. ECBM is affected by several parameters; prominent among them are coal characteristics, in-situ conditions prevailing in deep coalbeds, and changes arising from the interaction of coal with various fluids. These parameters do not act independently, thereby making it difficult to isolate their impacts separately. An attempt has been made in this article to classify these parameters and understand their role in ECBM. Past work in this area is reviewed and the future work that is critical for an improved understanding of ECBM recovery is discussed.

Keywords:

• coal
• coal characteristics
• enhanced coalbed methane recovery
• multi-component sorption
• permeability
• pore structure
• sequestration

Acknowledgments

Paper presented at 6th World Congress of Chemical Engineers, Melbourne, Australia in September 2001.