Evolution Of Coal Permeability Research Articles

Experimental Study of the Effect of Molecular Collision Frequency and Adsorption Capacity on Gas Seepage Flux in Coal

Summary The differences in the transport behavior and adsorption capacity of different gases in coal play crucial roles in the evolution of coal permeability. Previous studies of coreflooding experiments failed to explain the mechanism of gas flow and have attributed the variation in gas seepage flux (flow rate) at the beginning of the experiment to the change in effective stress, while the differences in the microscopic properties of different gases, such as molar mass, molecular diameter, mean molecular free path, and molecular collision frequency, were ignored. To research the effect of these gas properties on seepage flux while circumventing the effective stress, coreflooding experiments with helium (He), argon (Ar), nitrogen (N2), methane (CH4), and carbon dioxide (CO2) were designed. The results show that the gas transport velocity in coal is affected by the combination of molecular collision frequency and dynamic viscosity, and the transport velocities follow the order of ν (CH4) > ν (He) > ν (N2) > ν (CO2) > ν (Ar). A permeability equation corrected by the molecular collision frequency is proposed to eliminate differences in the permeabilities measured with different gases. The adsorption of different gases on the coal matrix causes different degrees of swelling, and the adsorption-induced swelling strains follow the order of ε (CO2) > ε (CH4) > ε (N2) > ε (Ar) > ε (He). The reduction in seepage flux and irreversible alterations in pore structure caused by adsorption-induced swelling are positively correlated with their adsorption capacities. The gas seepage fluxes after adsorption equilibrium of coal follow the order of Q (He) > Q (CH4) >Q (N2) > Q (Ar) > Q (CO2). Like supercritical CO2 (ScCO2), conventional CO2 can also dissolve the organic matter in coal. The organic molecules close to the walls of the cleats along the direction of gas flow are preferentially dissolved by CO2, and the gas seepage flux increases when the dissolution effect on the cleat width is greater than that on adsorption swelling.

Mechanical-permeability characteristics of composite coal rock under different gas pressures and damage prediction model

Determining the influence of gas pressure on the mechanics, permeability, and energy evolution of gas-bearing composite coal is helpful to better understand the formation process and prevention measures of gasdynamic disasters. In this paper, true triaxial mechanical-permeability tests are carried out on the gas-bearing composite coal rock under different gas pressures, focusing on the influence of gas pressure on the mechanics, permeability, and energy response characteristics of the composite coal rock, and a damage constitutive model based on energy dissipation is established. The results show that increasing the gas pressure decreases the load bearing capacity, strain, pre-peak relative permeability, and deformation capacity of the sample. The greater the gas pressure is, the greater the relative permeability decreases and the greater the post-peak relative permeability increases. The gas pressure has a great influence on the energy of the sample. The elastic strain energy ratio (Ue/U) increases with the increase in gas pressure, and the dissipative energy ratio (Ud/U) decreases with the increase in gas pressure. The coal-rock composite constitutive model based on energy dissipation is in good agreement with the experimental curves.

Investigation on damage-permeability model of dual-porosity coal under thermal-mechanical coupling effect

Understanding the permeability characteristics of coal under mining disturbance is crucial for ensuring coal mine safety and efficient gas extraction. Coal is a dual porosity medium consisting of matrix and fracture, and there are some differences in mechanics and permeability between matrix pores and fracture. However, research on the damage and gas seepage characteristics of dual-porosity coal is limited. In this paper, a coupled damage-permeability model considering matrix pores and fractures in coal is established, incorporating the influences of effective stress, gas adsorption, thermal expansion, and thermal cracking. And the reliability of the newly developed model was verified using experimental data of temperature and pressure variations under different stress boundary conditions. The results indicate that during the elastic stage, the total permeability and fracture permeability of coal exhibit a trend of decreasing and then increasing with pore pressure, while matrix permeability gradually increases. In the full stress-strain stage, the overall damage-permeability and fracture damage-permeability of coal exhibit an “S"-shaped variation trend with axial strain, while matrix damage-permeability shows a slow increasing trend. To accurately characterize the evolution of gas seepage in coal, contributions from matrix pores and fractures must be comprehensively considered, and the effects of gas adsorption, effective stress, thermal cracking, and thermal expansion on permeability cannot be ignored. Furthermore, through parameter sensitivity analysis, it is found that during the elastic stage, coal permeability decreases with an increase in the adsorption sensitivity coefficient and thermal expansion coefficient. In the full stress-strain process, coal permeability increases with an increase in the damage-permeability coefficient. The results of this study are of great significance for predicting the evolution of coal permeability in the working face ahead under mining disturbance.

Coal permeability evolution and gas production performance prediction under the coupling action of stress-residual water-pulverised coal

Coal permeability evolution and gas production performance prediction under the coupling action of stress-residual water-pulverised coal

Coal permeability evolution and gas production performance prediction under the coupling action of stress-residual water-pulverised coal

Coal permeability evolution and gas production performance prediction under the coupling action of stress-residual water-pulverised coal

Horizontal borehole azimuth optimization for enhanced stability and coal seam gas production

Horizontal boreholes have been widely used to extract natural gas from coal seams. However, these boreholes can encounter severe instability issues leading to production interruption. Optimizing drilling azimuth is a potential solution for enhancing borehole stability while considering gas production. In this work, we improved and implemented a dual-porosity, fully coupled geomechanical-hydraulic numerical model into COMSOL Multiphysics to investigate into this factor. The sophisticated numerical model incorporates various critical factors, including desorption-induced matrix shrinkage, stress-dependent anisotropic fracture permeability, and the interactions of gas flow and reservoir deformation in matrices and fractures.A suite of simulation scenarios (e.g., varying coal strength) was carried out to quantify the impact of drilling azimuth on coal permeability evolution, cumulative gas production, and the borehole break-out width for Goonyella Middle Seam of Bowen Basin, Australia. The model was calibrated against both theoretical permeability values and field gas production data. Due to the lack of directly measured matrix permeability data, the actual gas production was used to back calculate the best-matched matrix permeability, which is 0.65 μD for this particular work. Moreover, based on the breakout shape and induced volumetric strains around the borehole, drilling along the maximum horizontal stress does not necessarily lead to the best stability of the borehole, as generally believed. A drilling azimuth between 0° and 60° results in similar breakout width, whereas a drilling azimuth between 60° and 90° achieves the most efficient gas production. By considering both gas production efficiency and borehole stability, for this particular reservoir condition, the optimum drilling azimuth is determined to be between 45° and 60°.This study presents a practical approach for determining the optimum drilling azimuth in coal seam gas extraction through in seam boreholes.

Experimental study of cryogenic treatment of Karaganda coal samples

Karaganda Coal Basin bears the largest undeveloped reserve of coalbed methane (CBM) in Kazakhstan, which lacks water resources for implementing large-volume hydraulic fracturing. Cryogenic fracturing utilizing liquid nitrogen (LN2) has been trialled in fields and is a waterless fracturing technique under intensive research these days. This study aimed to evaluate the cryogenic treatment efficacy of Karaganda coal samples as well as to understand the coal permeability evolution during the thawing period. X-ray fluorescent spectrometry (XRF) and microscope imaging identified the compositional and structural heterogeneities of coal specimens mined from different interlayers. Acoustic emission test, permeability measurement, and microscope imaging comparatively characterized the dry coal structure alteration before and after immersion into LN2. Cryogenic treatment slowed down the S-wave velocity through coal specimens, enhanced permeability by over 65 % after temperature recovery as well as created new fractures, enlarged existing ones, and spalled coal particles. Dynamic permeability evolution against temperature rise during the thawing process has been successfully captured for the first time. Overall, the experimental measurements support that the LN2 cryogenic fracturing technique would be effective in stimulating coalbeds for CBM production in Karaganda Coal Basin.

Characteristics of Permeability Evolution and Pore Structure of Coal with High Gas

To study the influence of gas pressure on coal permeability evolution, we conducted experiments on coal samples from the No. 9 coal seam in Tangshan Coal Mine, Hebei Province, China. Different gas pressures (helium and nitrogen) were applied, and nitrogen-induced deformations were measured. We also analyzed the coal samples’ pore structure using mercury injection porosimetry, obtaining pore surface fractal dimensions. The increase in nitrogen pressure from 0.3 MPa to 3 MPa resulted in an elevation of adsorption strain from 0.168 × 10−3 to 1.076 × 10−3, with a gradual decrease observed in the extent of this increase. However, the permeability of coal samples initially decreased from 16.05 × 10−18 m2 to 4.91 × 10−18 m2 and subsequently rose to 5.69 × 10−18 m2. Helium showed similar trends to nitrogen, with average permeability 1.42–1.88 times higher under the same pressure. The lowest permeability occurred at 1.5 MPa for helium and 2.5 MPa for nitrogen. Gas absorptivity plays a crucial role in coal permeability evolution. Additionally, we observed coal’s compressibility to be 7.2 × 10−11 m2/N and corrected porosity to be 53.8%, considering matrix compression. Seepage pores larger than 100 nm accounted for 80.4% of the total pore volume, facilitating gas seepage. Surface fractal dimension Ds1 correlated positively with micropore volume, while Ds2 and Ds3 correlated negatively with pore volume and gas permeability.

Evolution of coal permeability during gas/energy storage

Both carbon dioxide and hydrogen can be stored in coal seams as two enabling components of energy transition from fossil-based systems to renewable sources. In both cases, understanding the evolution of coal permeability under the influence of gas adsorption is extremely important. The gas sorption-induced deformation is commonly treated by analogous calculation of thermal expansion. This assumption has long been proved to be inconsistent with observations as reported in the literature. In this study, we hypothesize that the difference between the assumption and the reality is due to self-constrained/facilitated swelling phenomena during gas injection. Under this new hypothesis, coal could be constrained or facilitated depending on coal internal structures and processes. A concept of fictitious stress is introduced to quantify coal self-constrained or facilitated degree and converted into the equivalent effective stress. This conversion has transformed the conventional effective stress principle to unconventional one. This has led to new generic coal permeability model, which has been validated by experimental data. An analysis of stress state evolution during gas storage process is conducted. Our results suggest that our coal permeability model is a valuable tool for evaluation of gas storage in coal seams.

Permeability Evolution of Bituminous Coal and Its Dynamic Control, a Case Study from the Southeastern Ordos Basin, China

Coalbed methane (CBM) reservoirs’ permeability is the result of dynamic variations influenced by tectonics, hydrology and the CBM production process. Taking samples from the southeastern Ordos Basin, China, the permeability evolution of bituminous coal and its control were analyzed in three steps: (1) the coal fracture permeability evolution was acquired via X-ray CT scanning and permeability evolution experiments; (2) the permeability variation was determined while considering the coupling characteristics effective stress, gas slippage, and matrix shrinkage effect and its influencing factors; and (3) a dynamic permeability model was built while considering those effects. For samples in which neither fractures nor bedding developed, the permeability decreased first and then increased as the gas pressure increased. For samples with fractures that developed parallel to the axial direction, with a gradual increase in gas pressure, the permeability also increased. As the gas pressure decreased, the matrix shrinkage effect became positive, resulting in a permeability increase. The gas slippage effect was positive in the low-pressure stage, which also resulted in a permeability increase.

Permeability evolution of deep-buried coal based on NMR analysis: CO2 adsorption and water content effects

Permeability evolution of deep-buried coal plays a crucial role in CO2 geological storage and coalbed methane (CBM) recovery. In this study, permeability and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) tests were conducted on coal specimens under triaxial conditions. Based on the evolution of relaxation time (T2), the effects of CO2 adsorption and water content on permeability, pore structure, and mechanical properties of coal were discussed. Experimental results show that CO2 injection causes adsorption-induced swelling, inhibits flow in the early stage, causes the “expansion” and “complexity” of pore structure, and generates new channels for fluid transport. The presence of water in coal inhibits the flow process, resulting in an overall reduction of permeability by 2 orders of magnitude. Softening occurs in coal specimens, as evidenced by plasticity and low brittle failure and an average strength loss of 29.3 %. Additionally, a complex CO2–H2O coupling effect in coal is observed, causing the dissolution of certain minerals and organic matter, which further amplifies the “weakening effect” of water. Finally, permeability evolution characteristics of coal affected by CO2 and H2O from multiple perspectives were discussed in consideration of NMR fractal analysis. This work provides valuable insights into deep CO2 geological sequestration and CBM recovery.

Combined Effects of Stress, Gas Adsorption, and Temperature on the Evolution of Coal Seam Permeability and Slippage Effect.

The complexity of the evolution of the permeability of coal is determined by the reservoir structure. Further, there exists an interaction between the fracture matrix, which further complicates changes in permeability. When the actual mining conditions of a coal mine are considered, a permeability model that considered the combined effects of stress, gas adsorption, and temperature was proposed. Subsequently, the model is verified by published test data. Based on the analysis of permeability, a calculation model of the slip coefficient that considered the combined effects of stress, gas adsorption, and temperature is proposed. With respect to this, any change in the slippage coefficient is only determined by the width of the fracture channel, which affected the flow of coal gas. In the process of a temperature increase, the slip coefficient tends to increase and the larger effective stress corresponds to a larger slip coefficient. In addition, under constant-temperature conditions, we also discuss the evolution of coal permeability and the variation of the coal gas slippage factor under different boundary conditions through the proposed model. This study aims to further the understanding of the seepage characteristics and slippage effects of coalbed methane, which would have a positive impact on the mining of coal.

Permeability Evolution of Intact and Fractured Coal during Progressive Deformation Subjected to True Triaxial Stresses

Coal mining is gradually moving towards a deep area of more than 1000 m. At this depth, coal seams are under extremely high stress, leading to the formation of macroscopic fractures. The effects of cleats and macroscopic fractures on permeability evolution and comparative analysis based on established permeability models between intact and fractured coal are still limited. In this study, the permeability of intact and fractured coal specimens was tested by a multi-functional test system. The permeability data were fitted and analyzed based on the established permeability models. Our results show that the permeability curve of fractured coal has an L-shaped trend different from the S-shaped trend of intact coal permeability. The macroscopic fractures increased the permeability of coal samples by 1–3 orders of magnitude. The exponential model had a better fit for the permeability of intact and fractured coal specimens than the cubic model. The mean fitting degrees based on Chen’s and Yu’s models were 0.973 and 0.948, respectively. The slip of the fracture surface resulted in permeability fluctuations during the progressive deformation of fractured coal. The macroscopic fractures increased the slope of permeability in the post-peak stage and reduced coal compressibility and strength.

Experimental Study on the Effect of Freeze-Thaw Cycles on the Mechanical and Permeability Characteristics of Coal

The safe and efficient mining of coal seams with low porosity, low permeability, and high heterogeneity under complex geological conditions is a major challenge, with the permeability of coal seams playing a crucial role in coal mine gas extraction. The development of coal seam permeability enhancement technology can help coal mines produce safely and efficiently, while the extracted coal bed methane can be utilized as green energy. To study the effect of freezing and thawing on the evolution of the mechanical and permeability properties of coal, triaxial permeability tests were conducted on low-permeability coal under two different confining pressures. Simultaneously, dry, saturated, and freeze-thaw coal samples were set up for comparison, and the effects of water and freeze-thaw were isolated from each other. The triaxial mechanics and percolation laws of dry, saturated, and freeze-thaw coal rocks were obtained; the results show that saturated coal has the lowest initial permeability, while freeze-thawed coal has the highest initial permeability. Through analyzing the effects produced by water, freezing and thawing on coal specimens, the mechanism of the influence of freeze-thaw on the permeability evolution of coal was revealed. The research results can provide theoretical guidance for the development of gas extraction technology for low-permeability coal seams.

Anisotropic strain of anthracite induced by different phase CO2 injection and its effect on permeability

To study the swelling/shrinkage strain effects of different phases of CO2 when injected into anthracite and the influence that has on the dynamic evolution of coal permeability, an experimental study of coal anisotropic adsorption of CO2 was carried out by using a triaxial compression test device, and the relationship between the swelling/shrinkage strain and permeability of the coal was discussed. The results show that the adsorption strain and time of gas exposure throughout different phase states of the CO2 injected show three stages of evolutionary behavior. The adsorption swelling of the coal sample increases with rising gas pressure. The adsorption strain of coals under the action of supercritical CO2 increased by 16.28% and 17.36% against the action of subcritical CO2, respectively. The coal portrayed anisotropic characteristics during the process of adsorption-caused swelling deformation and desorption-caused contraction, and the deformation in the vertical layer direction was greater than that in the parallel layer direction, and the anisotropy gradually weakened with increasing pressure. The permeability of the coal and the temperature is a quadratic function relationship under different effective stress conditions, and there is a zone where the changes occur. The study provides a theoretical basis CO2- Enhanced coalbed methane recovery.

Application of Image Processing in Evaluation of Hydraulic Fracturing with Liquid Nitrogen: A Case Study of Coal Samples from Karaganda Basin

Research of microstructure and permeability evolution of coal following LN2 treatment elucidate the process of cryogenic fracturing due to environmentally friendly behavior in comparison with conventional hydraulic fracturing. The evolution of the 2D microstructure of bituminous coal before and after LN2 treatment was examined using a high-resolution camera. The image processing was implemented using functions from the OpenCV Python library that are sequentially applied to digital images of original coal samples. The images were converted into binary pixel matrices to identify cracks and to evaluate the number of cracks, crack density, total crack area, and average crack length. Results were visualized using Seaborn and Matplotlib Python libraries. There were calculations of total crack area (TCA), total number of cracks (TNC), crack density (CD), the average length of cracks (Q2), first (Q1) and third (Q3) quartiles in fracture length statistics. Our findings demonstrate a progressive increase in the Total Crack Area (δTCA) with longer freezing times and an increased number of freezing–thawing cycles. In contrast, the change in crack density (δCD) was generally unaffected by freezing time alone but exhibited a significant increase after several freezing–thawing cycles. Among the freezing times investigated, the highest crack density (CD) value of 300 m−1 was achieved in FT60, while the lowest CD value of 31.25 m−1 was observed in FT90 after liquid nitrogen (LN2) treatment. Additionally, the FTC4 process resulted in a 50% augmentation in the number of cracks, whereas the FTC5 process tripled the number of small cracks.

Evolutionary Model and Experimental Validation of Gas-Bearing Coal Permeability under Negative Pressure Conditions.

Coal bed methane drainage is the main approach to lower risks of coal seam while raising the efficiency in natural resource utilization. The negative pressure used for extraction in coal mines is largely determined empirically due to a lack of experimental research on how coal permeability changes under the combined influence of effective stress and negative pressure. This results in low gas extraction efficiency and concentration. In this paper, to study the effect law of complex stress and extraction on coal permeability during coal and gas co-mining, a test system was specially designed to determine the gas flow and coal permeability of coal samples under different stress paths and negative pressure conditions in the lab. The study analyzed the correlation between coal permeability, effective stress, and negative pressure and subsequently developed a permeability evolution model for gas-bearing coal under negative pressure conditions. The results showed that the permeability of coal increases with the increase in negative pressure and decreases with the increase in effective stress; the permeability of coal can be abruptly changed by changes in stress loading patterns; the established model of permeability evolution of gas-bearing coal can better reflect the correlation between permeability, effective stress, and negative pressure. The research outcomes offer a valuable theoretical foundation for the efficient extraction and utilization of methane in coal mines.

Experimental Study on Permeability Evolution of Bituminous Coal Under High Temperature and Volumetric Stress

Experimental Study on Permeability Evolution of Bituminous Coal Under High Temperature and Volumetric Stress

Modeling Approaches to Permeability of Coal Based on a Variable-Order Fractional Derivative

In the past decades, many permeability models have been proposed to characterize the coal permeability evolution in the elastic state. Considering that the coal near the mining working face is often in the plastic or post-peak failure state, it is significant to characterize the coal permeability evolution in the plastic and post-peak failure stages for safe mining. In this study, two permeability models are developed using a variable-order fractional derivative to characterize the coal permeability evolution during the whole process of elastic, plastic, and post-peak failure stages. The results indicate that both models have the ability to better describe the coal permeability evolution during the whole process in areas near the mining working face. In addition, the physical and mechanical interpretation of the variable-order function is given as an indicator of fracture development, indicating the sensitivity of stress variation to coal fracture development. Moreover, the relationships among the effective stress, damage variable, and post-peak permeability of coal are discussed.

Permeability evolution and gas flow in wet coal under non-equilibrium state: Considering both water swelling and process-based gas swelling

Accurate knowledge of gas flow within the reservoir and related controlling factors will be important for enhancing the production of coal bed methane. At present, most studies focused on the permeability evolution of dry coal under gas adsorption equilibrium, gas flow and gas diffusion within wet coal under the generally non-equilibrium state are often ignored in the process of gas recovery. In this study, an improved apparent permeability model is proposed which accommodates the water and gas adsorption, stress dependence, water film thickness and gas flow regimes. In the process of modeling, the water adsorption is only affected by water content while the gas adsorption is time and water content dependent; based on poroelastic mechanics, the effective fracture aperture and effective pore radius are derived; and then the variation in water film thickness for different pore types under the effect of water content, stress and adsorption swelling are modeled; the flow regimes are considered based on Beskok’s model. Further, after validation with experimental data, the proposed model was applied to numerical simulations to investigate the evolution of permeability-related factors under the effect of different water contents. The gas flow in wet coal under the non-equilibrium state is explicitly revealed.