CO2 storage in coal with enhanced gas recovery

Coal reservoirs may present viable geological targets for CO2 storage to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions long-term. In coal, the dominant gas storage mechanism is adsorption on the coal’s surface, rather than the storage of free gas in the pore space. This means that in contrast to conventional reservoirs, even at shallow depths (less than 800 m), considerable volumes of CO2 may be stored.

Other features that make CO2 storage in coal attractive, include the existing infrastructure from CSG developments that may support CO2 storage and the potential benefit of enhancing coal seam gas recovery (CO2-ECBM) through displacement of the in-situ natural gas and pressure maintenance. 

Our team has a long track-record of researching gas transport and storage in coal, including CO2 storage. We can customise our integrated program of work to assess the feasibility of CO2 storage in coal to address particular research questions or challenges. We have even carried out a CO2 injection field trial in China!  

Please contact Regina Sander to discuss potential opportunities for projects or collaborations. A selection of the research services we offer is below.

 

  • Coal characterisation with gases of interest measuring routine and non-routine properties (read more in our paper in Fuel)
    • Gas adsorption isotherms (typically up to 10 MPa with 4 pressure steps for each isotherm; higher pressures are possible)
    • Geomechanical-elastic properties
    • Coal swelling/shrinkage with gas adsorption
    • Cleat volume compressibility and core permeability with gas of interest (read more here)
  • Specialised core flooding experiments (read more here or here), for example
    • Enhanced production experiments in which the reservoir gas (CH4) is displaced by an injectant gas (CO2 or N2/CO2)
  • Modelling of gas transport and storage using our commercial in-house reservoir simulation program SIMEDWin or alternative software (upon request)
    • History matching of core flooding experiments (read more here and here)
    • Forecasting of CO2 injection, storage and gas enhancement (read more here and here)