CO2Adsorption/Desorption, Induced Deformation Behavior, and Permeability Characteristics of Different Rank Coals: Application for CO2-Enhanced Coalbed Methane Recovery

To understand and evaluate the CO2injectivity in different coal seams, low-, middle-, and high-rank coals from Shanxi Province of China were collected to conduct CO2adsorption/desorption, induced swelling/shrinkage, and permeability experiments. Results show that the adsorption/desorption amount, swelling/shrinkage deformation, and permeability depend on the coal rank. The CO2adsorption/desorption amount of high-rank coal is the largest, followed by middle-rank coal, and that of low-rank coal is the smallest. The swelling/shrinkage strain and initial permeability of coals follow the sequence middle-rank coal > low-rank coal > high-rank coal. The percentage reductions of permeability of low-rank coal, middle-rank coal, and high-rank coal are 57.46, 48.50, and 71.17% when CO2adsorption reaches the equilibrium state, indicating that the permeability of high-rank coal is more sensitive for the CO2adsorption swelling. The swelling and shrinkage deformation presents obvious three-dimensional anisotropic characteristics; the deformation in the vertical bedding plane direction (VBD) is the maximum, the second is that in the parallel face cleat direction (PFD), and the deformation in the parallel butt cleat direction (PBD) is the maximum. The developmental characteristics of cleats and the distribution of macerals in coal contribute largely to the anisotropic deformation of coal induced by CO2adsorption–desorption. The permeability of coal shows a U-shaped change trend of first decreasing and then increasing after CO2adsorption because the permeability of coal is first dominated by the CO2adsorption swelling and then is dominated by the reduction of effective stress. The swelling behavior and permeability attenuation of coal seams after CO2injection are unavoidable; adopting the reservoir stimulation methods to produce more complex fracture networks is the key to improving CO2injectivity. Combining the reservoir stimulation methods with CO2-ECBM technology may be an important development direction of the CCUS in coal seams.