COAL BED METHANE- CONTENT

 Present status of coal bed methane.

 Formation and properties of coal bed methane
 Thermodynamics of coal bed methane
 Exploration & Evaluation of CBM
 Drilling, completion and logging of coal bed methane wells
 Hydro-fracturing of coal seam
 Production installation and surface facilities.
 Well operation and production equipment
 Treating and disposing produced water
 Testing of coal bed methane wells
• CBM- methane adsorbed onto coal surface generated during coalification
• Increasing global energy demand
• Depletion of conventional energy resources
• Presence of huge CBM resource, which otherwise creates problem
• Quality of CBM gas
• Demand supply gap in India
 WHAT IS CBM

 CBM is a form of natural gas that is trapped inside the

coal seams.
 CBM is naturally occurring methane with small amount
of other hydrocarbon and non hydrocarbon gases that
are content in coal seam as result of coalification.
 Coal is the most abundant energy source in the world.
It is a well recognized source of hydrocarbons,
particularly gas.
 CBM is often produced at shallow depths & is often

produced with large volumes of water.

Storage of Methane in Coal

Coal

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GENERATION OF METHANE
 Coal is a carbon-rich rock derived from plant material (peat) that accumulated
in swamps and was subsequently buried by ongoing geological processes.
 With increasing depth of burial, the plant material undergoes coalification,
releasing volatile matter (water, carbon dioxide, light hydrocarbons, including
methane) as it begins to transform into coal. With ongoing coalification, the
coal becomes progressively enriched in carbon and continues to expel volatile
matter.
 Generation of methane and other hydrocarbons is a result of thermal maturation
in coals, and begins around the sub-bituminous "A" to high volatile bituminous
“C” rank stage, with amounts of methane generated increasing significantly
throughout the medium to low volatile bituminous coal ranks.
 GLOBAL CBM ACTIVITIES

69 Coal Bearing Basin : activity in 35 countries

Global CBM Resource : 270 TCM (9500 TCF)
Source: Oilfield Review Summer 2009
 CBM RESERVOIR IN INDIA

 Total coal resource: 241 billion

tons.

 Estimated CBM resource -

~4.6 TCM .

 Preliminary assessment
indicates that Damodar Valley
Coalfields viz. Jharia, Bokaro,
North Karanpura and
Raniganj to be most
prospective CBM field.

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 CBM in India

Highlights - India
Blocks allotted:                                                    26
Total resource in the allotted block:                        1.4 TCM
Area opened up for exploration:                              13600 sq km
Production potential from the allotted block:           38 MMSCMD
Power generation potential:                                    6700 MW
Reduction in CO2 emissions, if compared with coal 
fired electricity generation of similar capacity:          27 MTY
Ref: CMPDI, 2009
:

IV ROUND BIDING
 Government of India has awarded 7 CBM Blocks under fourth round of CBM bidding. The contracts for these 7 blocks
were signed on 29th July 2010.
The awarded blocks covering an area of 3727 sq.km. are located in the states of Assam (1), Jharkhand (1), Orissa (2),
Madhya Pradesh (1), Madhya Pradesh & Chhattisgarh (1) and Tamil Nadu (1).
The estimated CBM resources of these 7 Blocks is about 330 BCM with expected production potential of 9 MMSCMD.

List of 7 Blocks for which CBM Contracts were signed on 29th July 2010

S.NO. Block Location Awardees

1. RM(E)-CBM-2008/IV Jharkhand Essar Oil Limited

2. TL-CBM-2008/IV Orissa Essar Oil Limited

3. IB-CBM-2008/IV Orissa Essar Oil Limited

Madhya Pradesh &

4. SP(NE)-CBM-2008/IV Essar Oil Limited
Chhattisgarh

Arrow Energy-TATA
5. ST-CBM-2008/IV Madhya Pradesh
Power
Arrow Energy- Oil India
6. AS-CBM-2008/IV Assam
Ltd

7. MG-CBM-2008/IV Tamil Nadu GEECL

GLOBAL RESOURCE BASE & POTENTIAL FOR UTILISATION

The largest CBM resource bases lie in the former Soviet Union, Canada, China, Australia
and the United States. However, much of the world’s CBM recovery potential remains
untapped. In 2006 (IEA, 2007) it was estimated that of global resources totalling 143
trillion cubic metres, only 1 trillion cubic metres was actually recovered from reserves.

Country Estimated CBM Resource Base (trillion cubic

metres)
Canada 17 to 92
Russia 17 to 80
China 30 to 35
Australia 8 to 14
USA 4 to 11
 PARAMETERS INFLUENCING THE TOTAL GAS-IN-PLACE AND
DELIVERABILITY

•Coal Source: Number, Thickness, and extent of Coal seams

•Coal Rank, Type and quality
•Coal cleats and natural fracture
•Gas content and composition
•Sorption and diffusion properties
•Geologic structure
•Stress setting
•Hydrological characteristics
 UNIQUE QUALITIES OF COAL

 Coals are extremely friable; i.e., they

crumble and break easily . It creates
problem in hydraulic fracturing of coal
prior to production.
 Nearly impossible to recover a whole core
 Intrusive properties measurement is
nearly impossible (permeability, porosity,
compressibility and relative permeability)
must rely on indirect measurement.
 Accurate measurement of petrophysical
properties required long core analysis.
 Proper well testing is need to model dual
porosity system as well as characterizing
the reservoir which is rarely done as it
takes long time
 CHANGE OF PERMEABILITY
WITH PRODUCTION:

 Two main phenomena are associate depletion

of reservoir pressure causing reduction of coal
permeability :
 Reservoir compaction,
 Gas desorption (mainly methane)

 Change of permeability of coal is primarily

control by effective horizontal stress.
 PROPERTIES EFFECTING
ADSORPTION CAPACITY

The following properties of coal are most

important for adsorption capacity of methane
into the coal surface:
 Moisture content
 Ash content
 Volatile matter
 Rank of coal that is depends upon the above
properties.
Adsorption capacity of different rank of coal as a function of pressure
RELATION BETWEEN MEAN MAXIMUM
REFLECTANCE OF VITRINITE AND VOLATILE
MATTER

0.9
Volatile matter (%, dry)

0.8

0.7

0.6

0.5

0.4
22 24 26 28 30 32 34 36 38 40 42
Vitrinite Reflectance (R 0, max)
RELATION BETWEEN LANGMUIR
VOLUME AND ASH CONTENT

36

34
Langm uir Volum e L(V

32
)

30

28

26

24

22

10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
Ash Content (%)
RELATION BETWEEN MEAN MAXIMUM REFLECTANCE
OF VITRINITE AND LANGMUIR PRESSURE

2.18
2.16
2.14
2.12
Langmuir Pressure (MPa)

2.10
2.08
2.06
2.04
2.02
2.00
1.98
1.96
1.94
1.92
1.90
0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9
Vitrinite Reflectance (R0, max)
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF COAL
 Porosity
 Permeability
 Density
 Strength
 Compressibility
 Rank (Reflectance R)
 Fixed carbon or heating value
POROSITY
 Dual porosity system
 Butt ad face cleatsporosity of coal of medium
volatile bituminus through anthracite rank is
typically less than 5%
HYDROLOGY
UNAFFECTED HYDROLOGY
CBM EFFECTS ON HYDROLOGY
EFFECTS OF DISCHARGE TO SURFACE WATER
WATER QUALITY

 Surface Water Quality

 Effects on Irrigation/Stockwater Usage
 Changing Riparian Ecosystems to more salt
tolerant system
WATER QUALITY OF CBM WATER
Horseshoe Canyon
Water Powder River Basin, Piceance Basin, San Juan Basin Black Warrior Basin,
Formation (Alberta,
Chemistry WY CO CO, NM, AZ, UT AL
Canada)
Max min max Min Max Min Max min max min
  (mg/L) (mg/L) (mg/L) (mg/L) (mg/L) (mg/L) (mg/L) (mg/L) (mg/L) (mg/L)

Na 861.0 112.0 800.0 110.00 2673. 1976. 5939. 3674. 3100. 570.0
Ca 128.00 2.70 69.00 5.90 1839.00 13.20 118.70 6.50 100.00 2.50
Mg 23.50 0.20 46.00 1.60 7.77 0.00 39.00 2.88 34.00 1.10
                     
As 0.0022 <0.0002 0.0026 <0.0002         0.11 0.00
Fe 0.16 <0.01 4.90 0.20         1.50 0.05
K 8.90 2.00 18.00 3.80         6.00 2.00
HCO3- 1720.00 384.00     6612.00 5250.00 14701.00 6083.00 1120.00 670.00
Cl- 229.00 0.50 64.00 5.20 600.00 4.00 2499.00 668.00 4200.00 450.00
SO 4
2-
1320.00 1.00 17.00 0.01 135.50 8.32 166.80 0.00    
                     
Meq Na 37.45 4.87 34.80 4.78 116.27 85.95 258.34 159.82 134.85 24.79
Meq Ca 6.39 0.13 3.44 0.29 91.77 0.66 5.92 0.32 4.99 0.12
Meq Mg 1.93 0.02 3.79 0.13 0.64 0.00 3.21 0.24 2.80 0.09

SAR 18.36 17.72 18.30 10.37 17.11 149.77 120.90 301.66 68.33 75.57
HYDROLOGY EFFECTS WITH REINJECTION
PROCESS OF GAS TRANSPORT IN COAL BED
METHANE RESERVOIRS
Transport of gas in coal is a three stage process:

1. Desorption from coal surface due to lowering of pressure.

2. Diffusion from micro pores to macro pores.

3. Darcy’s flow through the cleats/fractures/fissures.

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ADSORPTION ISOTHERM
Need of Dewatering

31
GAS RECOVERY CURVE

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CHALLENGES TO CBM DEVELOPMENT
• Technical Challenges
• Other Problems-
 Most mines are not accessible to gas pipeline network - lack of natural
gas transportation infrastructure in the coal producing regions
 Limited drainage technologies/low drainage rates
 Lack of Technology development due to cost and lack of
investment capital
Technical Difficulties:
 Peculiar mechanical properties of coal
 Dewatering & produced water treatment cost
 Large number of parameter dependency
CHARACTERISTICS OF CBM RESERVOIR
• Coal is a source rock and a Reservoir Rock
• Gas Storage Mechanism of coal : adsorbed on surface- not free gas like
conventional gas reservoir
• Fracture system of coal reservoir : contains small naturally occurring fracture (several
in an inch) face cleat & butt cleat. Orientation, size, spacing of which controls gas flow
once desorbed & diffused to pore space
• Flow mechanism :
• Unique mechanical properties of coal compared to conventional reservoir rock
• Gas content = f(coal rank, reflectance, isotherm, reservoir pressure, CO 2content etc.
• Dual Porosity
• Production behavior- similar to gas reservoir but rock is very much different
from sandstone or carbonate rock
• Variation of coal properties with production
• Gas composition variations during production
• dewatering
OTHER UNIQUE QUALITIES OF COAL

 Coals are extremely friable; i.e., they crumble and break

easily . It creates problem in hydraulic fracturing of coal prior
to production
 Nearly impossible to recover a whole core, but Accurate
measurement of petrophysical properties required long core
analysis
 Compressibility of coal is very high ~10-3 /psi
 Proper well testing is need to model dual porosity system as
well as characterizing the reservoir which is rarely done as it
takes long time
PETROPHYSICAL PROPERTIES
 Very low porosity & permeability
 Dual porosity system
 Nearly impossible to collect whole core- difficult
to make useful correlations
EFFECT OF MOISTURE CONTENT
Ref: Coal Mine Methane Potential source of Energy in NE India, NN Gautam, North East India Energy Summit 2008
 COAL BED METHANE – RESERVE
ASSESSMENT
Results in respect of six coal samples collected during exploratory drilling of boreholes and analyzed for
estimation of gas content, analyses for the chemical and petrographical properties and construction of
adsorption isotherm are presented below

Table: Proximate analysis of coal samples

Sl No. Location Depth Proximate Analysis
(m) Moist., % % Ash % VM % FC

1. Sonhat 330-420 1.0-1.7 18.8-28.8 17.6-28.8 45.3-53.2

Coalfield
2. Raniganj 330-800 2.9-4.2 16.8-33.6 32.0-38.2 32.0-45.0
Coalfield
3. Jharia 96.2-800 0.6-1.0 8.5-14.5 19.0-26.0 50.0-65.0
Coalfield
4. East Bokaro 300-600 06-1.0 16.1-55.8 10.7-18.8 32.0-65.0
5. Mehsana 1295-1450 13.7-18.0 3.5-5.0 28.5-42.5 23.7-42.0
Area
6. Neyveli lignite 400-440 18.3-27.5 0.9-32.2 38.4-40.7 31.6-36.0
Ref: Coal Mine Methane Potential source of Energy in NE India, NN Gautam, North East India Energy Summit 2008
STRATEGY FOR RECOVERY OF CBM

• To drill into Virgin seam ahead of mining,, hydrofracturing

the well, to pre-drain the gas existing in coal seams;

• To recover from surface by vertical drilling into worked out

(GOB ) areas

• To recover gas (in-seam) in working mines by long hole

horizontal underground drilling, in advance of mining

WHY CLEAN ENERGY

 Natural gas –cleaner fuel compared to petroleum oil’

 Marketable Quality of CBM gas - no extra energy require
for treatment
 No methane emission during coal mining- no emission to air,
prevents accident, save money
 CO2 sequestration for enhanced methane recovery- solve
multi purposes
EFFECT ON ENVIRONMENT

 Methane is a very powerful green house gas, (GHG) Twenty one times more
potent than CO2 .
 Its adverse impacts are felt more intensely due to its shorter residence and
higher potency in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide.
 Methane is remarkable clean fuel when burnt and its combustion produces no
SO2 or particulates and only about half of the CO2 associated with coal
combustion.
 Emission of Methane is related to various human activities -Rice cultivation,
livestock management landfills and coal mining.
 Global methane concentration is increasing by about 1% per annum.
CONCLUSIONS

 Coal bed methane gas – a clean gas

 Large volume of reserve –only very small amount produces

 production is challenging- required tech-economic development

 Utilization of CBM can reduce accidents in coal mines as well as

carbon emission to atmosphere

 Deep coal beds can be used for CO2 sequestration

Thus, CBM gas – to supplement energy requirement to future India

THANK YOU
COAL BED METHANE
 CBM is a form of natural gas that is trapped inside the coal
seams.

 CBM is naturally occurring methane with small amount of

other hydrocarbon and non hydrocarbon gases that are content
in coal seam as result of coalification.

 Coal is the most abundant energy source in the world. It is a

well recognized source of hydrocarbons, particularly gas.

 CBM is often produced at shallow depths & is often produced

with large volumes of water.

46
WHY CBM?
 Depletion of Natural Hydrocarbon resources & Faster
Increase in world-wide energy demand, magnifies production
of hydrocarbons from unconventional reservoirs.
 Coal bed methane is one of the most important & viable
unconventional resources.
 Production of CBM form coal bed serves multiple purposes: -
(a) Extra recovery of natural gas in addition to coal (b)
Recovery of gas from non-mineable coal mines © prevents
accident
 The natural gas from coal is "sweet" not "sour“.
 CBM is of marketable quality containing small amounts of
carbon dioxide and nitrogen.

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