A rapid and accurate direct measurement method of underground coal seam gas content based on dynamic diffusion theory

Coal seam gas content is frequently measured in quantity during underground coal mining operation and coalbed methane (CBM) exploration as a significant basic parameter. Due to the calculation error of lost gas and residual gas in the direct method, the efficiency and accuracy of the current methods are not inadequate to the large area multi-point measurement of coal seam gas content. This paper firstly deduces a simplified theoretical dynamic model for calculating lost gas based on gas dynamic diffusion theory. Secondly, the effects of various factors on gas dynamic diffusion from coal particle are experimentally studied. And sampling procedure of representative coal particle is improved. Thirdly, a new estimation method of residual gas content based on excess adsorption and competitive adsorption theory is proposed. The results showed that the maximum error of calculating the losing gas content by using the new simplified model is only 4%. Considering the influence of particle size on gas diffusion law, the particle size of the collected coal sample is below 0.25 mm, which improves the measurement speed and reflects the safety representativeness of the sample. The determination time of gas content reduced from 36 to 3 h/piece. Moreover, the absolute error is 0.15–0.50 m3/t, and the relative error is within 5%. A new engineering method for determining the coal seam gas content is developed according to the above research.