Experimental study on the effects of the moisture content of bituminous coal on its gas seepage characteristics

Abstract

Moisture content is the main factor affecting the occurrence and flow of gas in bituminous coal and restricts the gas permeability of the coal seam, which affects the effectiveness of gas extraction from the coal seam directly. In order to study the influence of moisture content on the gas seepage characteristics of bituminous coal, this paper focused on bituminous coal from the Xutuan coal mine and used a bespoke laboratory unit called a Gas Flow and Displacement Testing Apparatus (GFDTA). The moisture content of bituminous coal was measured, and the axial and radial gas seepage experiments of bituminous coal under different moisture content conditions were carried out. The average original moisture content (1.3%) and the average saturated moisture content (2.4%) of the bituminous coal sample were obtained. It was observed that, with the increase of time, the original moisture content of the coal decreased with a negative exponential function and the wetting moisture content increased with an Exponential Association function. The gas axial seepage experimental results showed that when the moisture content was lower, the coal adsorbed CH4; when the moisture content was higher than Mad, the two fields of gas and liquid are coupled and affect the axial flow of the CH4, decreasing the moisture content. With higher moisture content, the interaction between the two is more readily evident and the diffusion behavior of the CH4 has a greater impact on the moisture content. Axial and radial gas seepage experiments, under the same gas pressure, axial pressure, and confining pressure, revealed that with the increase of moisture content, the axial and radial permeability of bituminous coal first increased and then decreased. This phenomenon is analyzed by the water lock effect, the effects of sorption on gas seepage and moisture content on gas adsorption effects. Among them, critical moisture content of approximately 1% exists when the axial and confining pressures are loaded or unloaded at the same time as well as the axial pressure loading or unloading alone. However, the critical moisture content is about 0.5% under confining pressure loading or unloading alone. In addition, in radial seepage experiments, it was observed that the volumetric strain of the coal decreased with the increase in the moisture content.