Prediction of methane content of deep coal seams in the Sunan mining area in Anhui Province, China

Abstract

The prediction of the methane content in deep coal seams in the Sunan mining area is an important goal and an exploratory investigation. In this study, the pressure-adsorption curve method is used to predict the theoretical adsorption quantity of methane and the free quantity of methane at different burial depths using the No. 82 coal seam in the Qidong coal mine in the Sunan mining area as an example. The methane contents at different burial depths of the coal seam are predicted based on the gas saturation and the theoretical methane content. The proposed prediction method not only solves the problem of predicting the methane content of deep coal seams in the Sunan mining area but also provides a valuable reference for the methane content prediction of deep coal seams in other mining areas. [Received: February 16, 2018; Accepted: May 2, 2018]