To Study the Effect of Coal Rank and Porosity on the Optimization of ECBM Recovery

• Main Author: Ismail, Mohammad Sazwan
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS 2013
• Subjects: T Technology (General)
• Online Access: http://utpedia.utp.edu.my/10707/1/Thesis%2012666.pdf; http://utpedia.utp.edu.my/10707/
• Institution: Universiti Teknologi Petronas

Coal Bed methane (CBM) is naturally occurring methane (CH.) with small amounts of other hydrocarbon and non-hydrocarbon gases being adsorbed in coal seam reservoirs as a result of chemical and physical processes. CBM is often produced at shallow depths and often produced with large volumes of water at the early stage of production. There are several factors that influence the production of CBM like porosity, permeability, coal rank, initial gas content, and natural fracture system but this study will be focusing on the effects of different coal ranks and coal porosity on the optimization of ECBM recovery (CO. injection). The injection of carbon dioxide (CO.) will enhance the recovery of CBM and at the same time a very attractive option for CO. sequestration.This project is done by simulating the data of CBM basins obtained from available published research papers. A reservoir simulator ECLIPSE(E300) developed by Schlumberger will be used in this project. The results later will be compared and further analyzed to conclude the project outcomes. Based on the study and literature review conducted, it is expected that the outcomes of the result will indicates that the higher coal rank will be having higher gas content whereas the porosity of coalbed may not be directly proportional to the increasing of coal rank (maturity) or burial depth. In certain cases, the less deep coalbed tend to has higher porosity compared to the deepest coalbed. The macropores of coalbed mostly are made up of natural fractures, called cleats which highly dependent on coalbed stress. This has effect on the porosity and the permeability of the coalbed.