Field of the Invention
[0001] The present invention relates to a novel process for mining underground carbon-containing
organic mineral reservoir, in particular to a method for joint-mining of coalbed gas
and coal.
Background of the Invention
[0002] Coal, as a major source of energy in China, takes up about 70% of primary energy
structure and is relatively rich in the total volume. It is predicted that the total
volume of coal is about 4.5 trillion tons (within 2000 m), among which the volume
of coal accumulated within 600 m is just about 25%. It is estimated from the present
coal mining depth (400 m) that there is at least about 80% of the predicted total
volume of underground coal in China not yet developed and utilized. The deeper development
of coal resource is a long-term task. With the increase of the mining depth, an associated
resource, i.e., gas (also referred to as coalbed gas) also increases in content. It
is assessed in terms of coalbed gas resource that there is about 36 trillion cubic
meters of coalbed gas reserved deeply within 2000 m in China, ranking third in the
world, equivalent to the reserves of the onshore conventional natural gas resource.
[0003] Although China is rich in coalbed gas resource, reserve conditions of coalbed gas
vary a lot among zones of China. Most areas in China show characteristics of low pressure,
low permeability and low saturation. Except for the Qinshui basin and the eastern
margin of Ordos basin, it is difficult to realize scale and industrial development
in other areas at present. Furthermore, as there are many high-gas mines or coal &
gas outburst mines, with the increase of the mining depth, both the geostress and
the gas pressure further increase and the gas drainage becomes more difficult. Nevertheless,
with the increase of the mining depth, the geological environment becomes more complicated
that the increased geostress, water influx and ground temperature cause the increase
of sudden engineering disasters and serious accidents, for example, rock blast hazards,
gas explosion, aggravated strata pressure behaviors, large surrounding rock deformation,
rheologic phenomena, increase of ground temperature and the like, which cause great
threats to the safe and efficient extraction of deep resources. Hence, from the perspective
of either safety during the coal mining or improvement of the utilization of the coal
resource to promote the sustainable development of the coal industry, it is necessary
to study and solve the problem of difficult extraction and utilization of the coal
and coalbed gas.
[0004] From the disclosed information, it is shown that the coal seams reserved underground
may be burned controllably, by the coal underground gasification technology, to generate
gas energy that can be utilized adequately by means of pyrolytic reaction and chemical
reaction. In this way, the in-situ gasification mining of coal is realized. This technology
has achieved considerable success in the gasification of shallow coal seams and has
implemented the commercial operation in the former Soviet Union. Since the oil shock
in the twentieth century, some countries in Europe have succeeded in utilizing the
coal underground gasification technology to obtain energy from deep coal seams that
can not be mined by conventional methods. From 1978 to 1986, Belgium and Germany jointly
conducted deep coal seam underground gasification tests (with a depth of coal seams
of 860 m) in Thulin of Belgium for the first time; in 1988, six members of the EU
established a European underground coal gasification team who conducted medium deep
coal underground gasification tests (with a depth of coal seams of 550-650 m) in Teruel
mine of Spain, and those tests validated the feasibility of the deep coal seam underground
gasification technology in Europe.
[0005] The coal underground gasification technology is the most effective technology for
the mining of deep coal resources at present. However, the existing coal underground
technology only concerns the gasification of coal seams. With the increase of the
mining depth of coal, the content of coalbed gas will increase quickly and it is inevitable
to have some problems in the extraction of coalbed gas, specifically including: (1)
for a coal seam rich in coalbed gas, there may be problems such as safety challenge
and waste of resources if gasification is directly implemented to the coal seam; (2)
if the conventional coalbed gas mining means is employed without in combination with
the underground gasification technology, the subsequent implementation of the underground
gasification may cause overlapped functions such as drilling and increased investment
cost; (3) injection of CO
2 into a coal seam may increase the extraction ratio of CH
4 from the coal seam, however, the yield of coalbed gas, which may be increased only
in the initial stage of the extraction of coalbed gas, will drop quickly in the later
stage as the fracture is likely to close; and (4) as the intermediate of the gasification
process and one component of resulting products, CO
2, participating in a series of redox reactions, is an important component (about 15-60%)
of the output gas and an important factor influencing the calorific value and content
of active components of the gas; however, the recycling of CO
2 is not taken into consideration in the existing processes.
Summary of the Invention
[0006] The inventor(s) has found that the coalbed gas extraction and the underground coal
gasification have some similarities and synergistic effects in drilling, fracturing,
fracture expansion and other technological links, so that the collaborative development
and utilization of an underground coal resource and a coalbed gas resource may be
comprehensively taken into consideration by combining an underground coal technology
and a coalbed gas extraction technology. On one hand, a high-temperature medium generated
by the underground coal gasification may be used to heat a coal seam. Under the high
temperature, the adsorption capacity of CH
4 in a coalbed gas is greatly reduced, and the gas is expanded while heated during
the process of transferring heat energy to the coal seam, so that it is advantageous
for the establishment of a pressure difference, and the seepage rate of the coalbed
gas is improved. On the other hand, processes for the coalbed gas in early stage,
such as the fracturing stimulation and depressurization by drainage,, improve the
permeability of a coal seam, so that it is advantageous for the establishment of a
fire zone and the implementation of a subsequent gasification process in the underground
coal gasification technology; meanwhile, the permeability of the coal seam after heated
may be improved by 2-10 times, so it is more advantageous for the desorption of CH
4. In addition, from the perspective of products, the cost of the separation of CO
2 from methane is lower than that of N
2 from methane, and CO and H
2 in the gas may be directly synthesized into methane, so the final product, like the
coal gas, is methane. It can be seen that the coalbed gas extraction may be combined
with the underground gasification, and the both promote and cooperate with each other,
so that the recovery rate of the coalbed gas may be improved, and meanwhile, due to
the improvement of the permeability of the coal seam, the reaction surface area is
increased, so that it is advantageous for the underground coal gasification reaction.
[0007] In view of the difficulties of the extraction of coalbed gas in China, the advantages
of the underground coal gasification technology in the coal mining and the above synergistic
effects of the both in the process technology, an objective of the present invention
is to provide a new method for joint-mining of coalbed gas and coal. The method combines
a coalbed gas extraction technology and an underground coal gasification technology,
and a medium containing CO
2 is used in the joint-mining process.
[0008] Hence, the present invention provides a method for joint-mining of coalbed gas and
coal, including:
- 1) a well-drilling step: drilling from the ground to a coal seam such as coal seam
to provide at least one injection borehole and at least one production borehole for
communicating the coal seam with the ground;
- 2) a fracturing and penetration step: injecting a fracturing medium containing CO2 into the coal seam from the injection borehole, thereby forcing the fracture medium
to flow in the coal seam and to discharge from the production borehole so that the
injection borehole is brought to communicate with the production borehole through
the communicating fracture in the coal seam;
- 3) a coalbed gas extraction step: injecting a displacement medium into the coal seam
from the injection borehole, displacing coalbed gas in the coal seam, and collecting
the coalbed gas from the production borehole;
- 4) an ignition step: establishing a fire zone in the coal seam at the bottom of the
production borehole for igniting the coal seam; and
- 5) an underground gasification step: injecting a gasification agent containing CO2 into the coal seam from the injection borehole so that a gasification reaction and
a pyrolytic reaction occur between the gasification agent and the coal seam to generate
heat energy and a gasified gas, transferring the heat energy towards the inside of
the coal seam to generate a pyrolyzed gas, synchronously displacing the coalbed gas
to generate free methane, discharging and collecting the free methane, together with
the gasified gas and the pyrolyzed gas, from the production borehole.
[0009] However, it is to be noted that, the method provided by the present invention is
not a simple combination of the underground gasification technology and the coalbed
gas extraction technology, but respective original processes are improved to adapt
to the coupling of the two process technologies. Specifically, at least one of the
following improvements is employed.
a. A horizontal well is drilled preferably in a direction vertical to a primary fracture
of a coal seam during coalbed gas drilling. The direction of the primary fracture
is located in a horizontal plane of the coal seam and may be determined by geostress
measurement, directional coring analysis or other means, but the problem on the direction
of the horizontal well is not taken into consideration in the existing coalbed gas
extraction.
b. The distance of a horizontal section of the coalbed gas horizontal well is determined
according to a longitudinal expanded range of an underground gasification fire zone
(i.e., the direction of the horizontal well), and the main parameters for determining
this expanded range include the distribution and size of the geostress of the coal
seam, the original permeability of the coal seam and the permeability of the coal
seam at different temperatures, the reactivity of coal, the structure and fault of
the coal seam, the mechanical properties of coal rocks at different temperatures and
the like. If necessary, it is also required to summarize a proper length in combination
with an on-site test. However, the exiting coalbed gas extraction does not consider
the length of the horizontal section of the horizontal well according to this standard.
c. The specification (i.e., material, inner and outer diameters, well structure and
construction technology) of injection and production holes of coalbed gas is determined
according to the underground gasification technology, specifically including gas inflow/outflow,
temperature, operating pressure, service life and so on. However, the specification
of the injection and production holes in the coalbed gas extraction is determined
by pressure and gas outflow only.
d. In the coalbed gas extraction, it is taken into consideration during drilling a
vertical well that the put-down depth of a sleeve and a trajectory of the horizontal
section of the horizontal well are located at the lower part of the coal seam and
approximate to a bottom plate, thereby ensuring the recovery rate of the coal seam.
This point is not taken into consideration in the coalbed gas extraction.
e. A fracturing range (determined according to the distribution of pressure of each
hole on site) of the coalbed gas is considered during the design of a gasification
furnace for underground gasification to determine an arrangement range of a furnace
zone; the arrangement range of the furnace zone is determined only according to the
range of thermal state influence (determined by on-site thermometer holes) of the
coal seam during the design of the gasification furnace for underground gasification,
but the fracturing range of the coalbed gas is obviously larger than the range of
thermal state influence.
f. Prior to the ignition and the underground gasification, the content of methane
at injection and production holes is monitored, and the content of oxygen in input
gas is controlled, so that the nonoccurrence of explosion accidents is ensured. As
the coalbed gas extraction is performed at a cold state and no oxygen gets involved,
the explosion of methane will not be considered.
[0010] In a preferred implementation, the well drilling is drilling a horizontal well on
a horizontal plane of the coal seam and in a direction vertical to a primary fracture
of the coal seam.
[0011] In a preferred implementation, in the coalbed gas extraction, it is taken into consideration
during drilling a vertical well that the put-down depth of a sleeve and a trajectory
of a horizontal section of the horizontal well are located at a lower part of the
coal seam, with 1-3 m away from a bottom plate of the coal seam.
[0012] In a preferred implementation, the fracturing medium is a mixture of CO
2 and O
2, and the volume concentration of O
2 is below 20%.
[0013] In a preferred implementation, in the coalbed gas extraction step 3), the displacing
coalbed gas in the coal seam is injecting CO
2 or N
2 for displacement.
[0014] In a preferred implementation, the method further includes: 6) a CO
2 recycling step: recycling CO
2 generated during the underground gasification step, and using a part of the recycled
CO
2 as the gasification agent.
[0015] In a preferred implementation, the CO
2 recycled in the CO
2 recycling step is used as the fracturing medium for the fracturing and penetration
step or the displacement medium for the coalbed gas extraction step.
[0016] In a preferred implementation, the method further includes: 7) a CO
2 storage step: at the end of the underground gasification of the coal seam between
the injection borehole and the production borehole, filling a part of the recycled
CO
2 into a combustion cavity (the combustion cavity is a cavity left after the gasification
of the coal seam) for burying and storage.
[0017] In a preferred implementation, prior to the ignition step 4), the method further
includes a safety detection step for ensuring ignition safety.
[0018] In a preferred implementation, the fracturing medium in the fracturing and penetration
step is gaseous, liquid or supercritical CO
2, or a mixture of CO
2 and O
2 having a volume concentration of oxygen of below 20%, or a mixed liquid composed
of liquid CO
2, water collagen (for example, guanidine gum, for improving the denseness of the fracturing
medium, reducing the leak-off of the fracturing medium and increasing the width of
the fracture) and a chemical additive (for example, potassium chloride, for allowing
the fracturing medium to form a stable system).
[0019] In a preferred implementation, in the underground gasification step, the volume concentration
of O
2 in the gasification agent containing CO
2 is 20-70% to ensure that ash will not be melted.
[0020] In a preferred implementation, in the underground gasification step, the volume concentration
of O
2 in the gasification agent containing CO
2 is 20-50% for establishment of a gasification passage.
[0021] In a preferred implementation, in the underground gasification step, the volume concentration
of O
2 in the gasification agent containing CO
2 is 40-70% for gasification of the coal seam at the end of the establishment of the
gasification passage.
[0022] In a preferred implementation, if the content of water in the coal seam is less than
the amount of water required for the gasification of the coal seam at the end of extraction
of the coalbed gas, the gasification agent containing CO
2 is a mixture of O
2, CO
2 and water vapor. The addition amount of water vapor should be determined according
to a result obtained by dividing a difference between the amount of water required
for the gasification and the water content of the coal seam by a decomposition rate
of the water vapor.
[0023] In a preferred implementation, the establishing a fire zone is performed by electric
ignition (for example, placing an electric heater in the coal seam where a fire zone
is to be established, controlling the pressure of an ignition hole to be larger than
the hydrostatic head to ensure that there is no water in the ignition hole, and then
heating and igniting the coal seam to establish the fire zone) or solid fuel ignition
(for example, placing hot coke in the coal seam where a fire zone is to be established,
feeding oxygen to combust the coke and thus ignite the coal seam so as to establish
the fire zone).
[0024] In a preferred implementation, in the fracturing and penetration step, when the pressure
in the injection borehole drops rapidly (a pressure drop reaches about 5% or more
of an initial pressure per day) while the gas outflow of the production borehole is
above 100 Nm
3/h, communicating fracture has been formed in the coal seam between the injection
borehole and the production borehole.
[0025] In a preferred implementation, the underground gasification includes forward combustion
(a moving direction of flame on a gasification working plane is consistent with an
airflow direction), reverse combustion (the moving direction of flame on the gasification
working plane is opposite to the airflow direction) or retracting injection point
combustion (a set of continuous tubes is inserted into the horizontal well, then the
set of continuous tubes is drawn on the ground to allow the continuous tubes to retract
in the horizontal well for ignition and gasification at different positions).
[0026] In a preferred implementation, the generated gasified gas, pyrolyzed gas and coalbed
gas are discharged from the production borehole for synthesis of methane, methane-power
generation or production of methane-methanol.
[0027] In a preferred implementation, for the conveying of the gasification agent in the
underground gasification step, the gasification agent is conveyed from the ground
to the fire zone through an annular conveying pipe (i.e., a double-layer sleeve) or
directly conveyed from the ground to the fire zone through a borehole.
[0028] In a preferred implementation, the CO
2 recycled in the CO
2 recycling step is used as the fracturing medium for the fracturing and penetration
step or the displacement medium for the coalbed gas extraction step.
[0029] The method provided by the present invention combines an underground coal gasification
technology and a coalbed gas extraction technology, not only allows for utilization
of the high temperature of underground gasification to heat a coalbed, thus increasing
the permeability of a coal seam and increasing the extraction rate of the coalbed
gas, but also allows for realization of the coupling of the drilling technology and
the fracturing technology and meanwhile may use directly captured CO
2 as a medium for coalbed gas displacement and a gasification agent for the underground
gasification, thus adjusting effective compositions of gas. By coupling technologies,
the extraction rate of coalbed gas is improved, the effective gas compositions of
gas are adjusted, the production cost of gas is reduced, and CO
2 capture and resource utilization are realized.
Brief Description of the Drawings
[0030]
Fig. 1 is a flowchart of a method for joint-mining of coalbed gas and coal according
to the present invention;
Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of the method for joint-mining of coalbed gas and coal
according to an implementation of the present invention, wherein a coal seam between
boreholes is injected with CO2, i.e. by cold state fracturing, for extraction of coalbed gas;
Fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of the method for joint-mining of coalbed gas and coal
according to an implementation of the present invention, wherein a fire zone is established
to heat a fracture and then expand it to form a gasification passage for synchronous
displacement of coalbed gas;
Fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of the method for joint-mining of coalbed gas and coal
according to another implementation of the present invention, wherein the extraction
of coalbed gas is performed by pinnate branch horizontal drilling technology;
Fig. 5 is a schematic diagram of the method for joint-mining of coalbed gas and coal
according to another implementation of the present invention, wherein the ignition
is performed, and a passage is thermally performed and then expanded to form a gasification
passage for synchronous displacement of coalbed gas;
Fig. 6 is a schematic diagram of the method for joint-mining of coalbed gas and coal
according to another implementation of the present invention, wherein the extraction
of coalbed gas is performed by directionally horizontal drilling; and
Fig. 7 is a schematic diagram of the method for joint-mining of coalbed gas and coal
according to another implementation of the present invention, wherein the ignition
is performed, and a passage is heated and then expanded to form a gasification passage
for synchronous displacement of coalbed gas;
in which:
1: Coal seam
2: Ground
3: Overlying strata
4: Communicating fracture
5: Injection borehole
6: Production borehole
7: O2 pipeline
8: CO2 pipeline
9: Drainage pipeline
10: Coalbed gas pipeline
11: Initial fire zone
12: Gasification passage
13: Gas pipeline
14: Pinnate branch horizontal well
15: Horizontal well
Detailed Description of the Preferred Embodiments
[0031] In view of the difficult extraction of coalbed gas in China and the advantages of
an underground coal gasification technology in coal mining, the present invention
provides a new method for joint-mining of coalbed gas and coal.
[0032] In view of those aspects, the method provided by the present invention combines a
coalbed gas extraction technology and an underground coal gasification technology.
As both the underground gasification and the ground coalbed gas extraction are implemented
in virtue of boreholes, an underground gasification unit is generally required to
at least have a injection borehole, a production borehole and a gasification passage
connected between the two boreholes, where the gasification passage is realized generally
by fracturing, fire penetration or other means. While a coalbed gas extraction unit
is generally required to have at least one blind hole, for example, a vertical hole
or a multilateral horizontal well, and it is required to perform fraction expansion
by fracturing. Also, the coalbed gas extraction unit may include a gas injection well
and a plurality of production wells. Therefore, the underground gasification and the
ground coalbed gas extraction have some similarities in technology to a certain extent.
The combination of the underground coal gasification technology and the coalbed gas
extraction technology not only allows for utilization of the high temperature of underground
gasification to heat a coal seam, thus increasing the permeability of a coal seam
and increasing the extraction rate of the coalbed gas, but also allows for realization
of the coupling of the drilling technology and the fracturing technology and meanwhile
may use directly captured CO
2 as a medium for coalbed gas displacement and a gasification agent for the underground
gasification, thus adjusting effective compositions of gas. By coupling technologies,
the extraction rate of coalbed gas is improved, the effective gas compositions of
gas are adjusted, the production cost of gas is reduced, and CO
2 capture and resource utilization are realized.
[0033] As shown in Fig. 1, the method provided by the present invention include well drilling,
fracturing and penetration, coalbed gas extraction, ignition of a coal seam, underground
gasification, recycling of CO
2, storage of CO
2 and other steps.
[0034] More specifically, the method for joint-mining of coalbed gas and coal provided by
the present invention includes the following steps.
[0035] Step a1: At least two boreholes are drilled from the ground to a coal seam, and the
direction of the connection line between the bottoms of the two boreholes is consistent
with the direction of a primary fracture of the coal seam, wherein one of the two
boreholes is used as an injection borehole while the other one thereof is used as
an production borehole. A high pressure (higher than a fracturing pressure of the
coal seam) fracturing medium containing CO
2 as a fracturing medium is injected from the injection borehole, and CO
2 is forced to move along the bores and fractures in the coal seam and to discharge
from the production borehole, so that a communicating fracture is established in the
coal seam between the boreholes.
[0036] Step a2: The production borehole is closed, and CO
2 is continuously injected into the coal seam from the injection borehole. Then, CO
2 is stopped to be injected, and both the injection borehole and the production borehole
are closed for soaking, so that CO
2 is allowed to displace CH
4 in the coal seam. Subsequently, the production borehole is opened again for extraction
of the coalbed gas.
[0037] Step a3: Step a2 is repeated according to the desorption states of the coalbed gas.
After the content of CH
4 in the gas from the production borehole drops significantly (for example, the volume
concentration of methane is less than 5%), the coal seam at the bottom of the production
borehole is ignited, and then a certain concentration of CO
2 oxygen-rich gas (called oxygen-rich CO
2) prepared from CO
2 and pure oxygen is continuously conveyed to a fire zone from the injection borehole
through the communicating fracture formed in the coal seam between the boreholes,
so that a fire source is allowed to move to the injection borehole in a direction
opposite to the airflow direction of the oxygen-rich CO
2. As a result, a gasification reaction and a pyrolytic reaction occur between the
oxygen-rich CO
2 and the coal seam; the communicating fracture is processed to form a gasification
passage and continuously gasified to generate gasified gas and pyrolyzed gas:
C +
O2 →
CO2 -394kJ/mol
C +
CO2 → 2
CO + 173kJ/mol
C +
H2O →
H2 +
CO + 131kJ/mol
coal→H
2+CH
4+CO
2+tar+semicoke+...
[0038] Meanwhile, the released heat is transferred to the coal seam to facilitate desorption
of CH
4 and dry the coal seam, thus increasing the permeability of the coal seam. The desorbed
methane, together with the gasified gas and the pyrolyzed gas, is discharged from
the production borehole.
[0039] Step a4: After a difference between the injection pressure of the oxygen-rich CO
2 and the production pressure of the gas drops significantly (generally about 0.3 MPa),
the flow of the oxygen-rich CO
2 is increased or the oxygen concentration of the oxygen-rich CO
2 is increased, so that the temperature of a reaction zone is further improved, the
desorption of CH
4 is enhanced, and the fire source is allowed to move to the production borehole in
a direction opposite to the airflow direction of the oxygen-rich CO
2. Accordingly, the full contact reaction of CO
2 with the hot coal seam is ensured, and the in-situ gasification mining of the coal
seam between the boreholes is realized.
[0040] Further, in those steps, the CO
2 may be gaseous, liquid or supercritical CO
2, or a mixture of CO
2 and O
2 having a volume concentration of oxygen of below 20%, or a mixed liquid composed
of liquid CO
2, water collagen (for example, guanidine gum, for improving the denseness of the fracturing
medium, reducing the leak-off of the fracturing medium and increasing the width of
the fracture) and a chemical additive (for example, potassium chloride, for allowing
the fracturing medium to form a stable system).
[0041] Further, in the fracturing operation, the pressure change of CO
2 injected into the borehole(s) is monitored. When the pressure at the borehole(s)
drops rapidly (that is, a pressure drop reaches 5% or more of the original pressure
per day) while the gas outflow is not less than 100 Nm
3/h, it is indicated that a communicating fracture has been formed in the coal seam
between the boreholes.
[0042] Further, for the oxygen-rich CO
2, the volume concentration of oxygen in step a3 is required to be 20-50%, and the
oxygen concentration in step a4 is required to be 40-70%, to ensure that ash will
not be melted. If the content of water in the coal seam is not sufficient for the
gasification of the coal, the gasification agent needs to be added with water vapor.
The addition amount of the water vapor is determined according to the foregoing description.
[0043] Further, for the conveying of the oxygen-rich CO
2, the oxygen-rich CO
2 may be conveyed from the ground to a fire zone through an annular conveying pipe,
or may be directly conveyed from the ground to the fire zone through a borehole.
[0044] The method may further include a step a5 of recycling CO
2: recycling the CO
2 generated during the underground coal gasification, and using a part of CO
2 as a gasification agent for underground coal gasification to adjust compositions
and a calorific value of the gas.
[0045] The method may further include a step a6 of CO
2 storage: at the end of the gasification of the coal seam between the two boreholes,
a part of the recycled CO
2 is filled into a combustion cavity formed after the gasification of the coal seam
for burying and storage.
[0046] For the boreholes, two of boreholes may ensure the implementation of the gasification
process, and one of the boreholes is used for gas inflow while the other one thereof
is used for gas discharge. Meanwhile, during the coalbed gas extraction, one of the
boreholes may be used for injecting gas to displace coalbed gas, while the other one
thereof is used for collecting the coalbed gas displaced from the coal seam.
[0047] The fracturing of the coal seam in the method at least includes: gas fracturing,
hydraulic fracturing or foam fracturing, or mechanical drilling.
[0048] In the method, step a1 may use O
2 and CO
2 to perform fracturing. The concentration of O
2 is within 20% and specifically determined according to the content of methane in
the coal seam and the expansion limit of methane.
[0049] The establishing of a fire zone in the method may be that the mixture of CO
2 and O
2 is conveyed to the bottom of the borehole, wherein the temperature is determined
according to the convention of the O
2, ignition point of the coal seam, the exposed area of the coal seam, heat waste of
pipes and the like, and the pressure is determined according to the hydrostatic head.
[0050] The establishing of a fire zone in the method further includes: electric ignition,
solid fuel ignition, or using an original fire zone within an operation zone or a
high pressure coal seam in the combustion cavity.
[0051] The underground gasification mode in the method at least includes: forward combustion,
reverse combustion or retracting injection point combustion. The forward combustion
refers that the moving direction of flame on a working plane is consistent with an
airflow direction, the reverse combustion refers that the moving direction of flame
on the working plane is opposite to the airflow direction, and the retracting injection
point combustion refers that a set of continuous tubes is inserted into a horizontal
well and then drawn on the ground to allow the continuous tubes to retract in the
horizontal well for ignition and gasification at different positions.
[0052] The recycling of CO
2 in the method may be performed in various ways and mainly depends on the application
and quality of gas. For example, if the gas is used for power generation, CO
2 in the fume generated after gas power generation may be recycled. For example, if
the gas is used for chemical synthesis, CO
2 in the gas may be separated and recycled in a decarbonization section during gas
purification, and the fume generated by directly combusting gas or coalbed gas may
also be used.
[0053] In the method, the gasified gas, the pyrilyzed gas and the coalbed gas, which are
discharged from the production borehole, may be used for synthesis of methane, or
poly-generation production, for example, methane-power generation, methane-methanol,
or production of multiple energy chemical products.
[0054] The present invention further produces a preferred method for joint-mining of coalbed
gas and coal. The whole flow focuses on the utilization of CO
2 as a resource. The method specifically has the following advantages.
[0055] Compared with other coalbed gas extraction technologies, the present invention combines
coalbed gas extraction and underground gasification, greatly improves the extraction
rate of coalbed gas, reduces cost, and meanwhile realizes the recycling and utilization
of CO
2, so that the present invention is particularly suitable for low-permeability coal
seams. The coalbed gas extraction and the underground gasification have strong synergistic
effects, specifically:
the boreholes bored in step 1 not only may be used for coalbed gas fracturing and
coalbed gas extraction in step 2, but also may be used as injection and production
boreholes for ignition in step 3 and pyrolysis and gasification in step 4, so that
the coalbed gas drilling and the underground gasification drilling are coupled with
each other, and it is advantageous for the reduction of well drilling investment and
cost saving, particular for the mining of resources in deep coal seams;
[0056] CO
2 fracturing in step 1 may improve the desorption of methane in the coalbed gas extraction
process in step 2, and a large amount of CO
2 adsorbed in the coal seam not only may control the temperature of the coal seam during
the ignition in step 3 and the pyrolysis and gasification in step 4, thereby avoiding
the occurrence of problems of spontaneous combustion or melting of the gasification
passage, which are disadvantageous for ignition and gasification, due to partial overheat
of the coal seam, but also may improve the yield of pyrolyzed gas of the coal seam
in step 4; in addition, the fracturing process in step 1 greatly improves the permeability
of the coal seam, provides advantageous conditions for heat transfer and mass transfer
for the pyrolysis and gasification in step 4, increases an expanded range of a working
plane of gasification, and improves the recovery rate of the gasification of the coal
seam; if the mixture of CO
2 and O
2 is added as a fracturing medium in step 1, the oxygen remained in the coal seam is
advantageous for ignition and may react with a combustible gas during the gasification
process in step 4, so that the temperature of the coal seam is further improved, the
fracture of the coal seam may be prevented from being closed at the end of the CO
2 fracturing, the desorption of methane in the coalbed gas and the pyrolysis of coal
may be quickened, the content of methane in the generated gas is improved, and the
quality of the gas may also be promoted obviously; however, it is required to control
the content of oxygen in the mixed gas to be beyond the explosion limit of methane,
the specific process may be implemented by controlling the oxygen concentration;
as a large amount of methane is separated out during the coalbed gas extraction process
in step 2 and the coal seam is subjected to pressurization and depressurization repeatedly,
the permeability of the coal seam is improved greatly, so that it is advantageous
for the expansion of the gasification working plane in step 4, and the methane enriched
around the production well is also advantageous for ignition;
the high temperature generated by the underground gasification reaction in step 4
facilitates the formation of the fracture of the coal seam (i.e., hot fracture expansion),
so the cold fracturing the coal seam and the hot fracture expansion are complemented
with each other to generate synergistic effects, so that the seepage capacity of the
coalbed gas is improved, the temperature rise of the coal seam greatly facilitates
the desorption of methane, and the fracture of the coal seam may be prevented from
being closed at the end of the CO
2 fracturing in step 1; by combining physical desorption and chemical reaction, the
yield of the coalbed gas may be greatly increased; CO
2 may quicken the generation rate of CO, suppresses water-gas shift reaction, effectively
adjusts the content of the effective compositions in the gas, and allows a hydrogen-carbon
ratio to be fit for the synthesis of methane; meanwhile, using CO
2 to displace CH
4 improves the recovery rate of the coalbed gas, realizes CO
2 capture and resource utilization, and achieves CO
2 emission reduction.
[0057] The present invention will be further described as below in details with reference
to the drawings by specific embodiments. However, it should be understood that the
present invention is not limited to these embodiments.
Embodiment 1
[0058] This embodiment will be described with reference to Fig. 2 and Fig. 3. Fig. 2 is
a schematic diagram of a method for joint-mining of coalbed gas and coal according
to the present invention, wherein a coal seam between boreholes is injected with CO
2, i.e. by cold state fracturing, for extraction of coalbed gas. Fig. 3 is a schematic
diagram of the method for joint-mining of coalbed gas and coal, wherein a fire zone
is established to heat a fracture and then expanded it to form a gasification passage
for synchronous displacement of coalbed gas. As shown in Fig. 2 and Fig. 3, boreholes
are arranged according to the range of a coal seam to be gasified in this embodiment.
The number of the boreholes is determined according to the reserves of the coal seam
and the production scale of gas. However, to implement the present invention, at least
one injection borehole and one production borehole should be included. The specific
implementation is as below.
[0059] Referring to Fig. 2 and Fig. 3, a vertical borehole as an injection borehole 5 is
constructed from the ground 2 to the coal seam 1 through overlying strata 3. A vertical
borehole as an production borehole 6 is constructed at a certain distance away from
the injection borehole 5 (generally within 200 m to 600 m; the distance may be specifically
determined according to the type of coal by the those skilled in the art; for example,
the deeper the degree of metamorphism is, and the larger the length of the borehole
is; for lignite, the depth is generally about 200 m, while for bitumite, the depth
is generally about 500 m). The bottoms of both the injection and production boreholes
are located in the coal seam 1, and are 2 m away from a bottom plate 2 of the coal
seam. The direction of a connection line of the bottoms of the injection borehole
5 and the production borehole 6 is consistent with the direction of a primary fracture
of the coal seam. The space between the injection and production borehole may be determined
according to the coal seam, stratum and other conditions by those skilled in the art.
[0060] An O
2 pipeline and a CO
2 pipeline 8 are mounted at the orifice of the injection borehole 5, and a drainage
pipeline 9, a coalbed gas 10 and a gas pipeline 13 are arranged at the orifice of
the production borehole 6, wherein the O
2 pipeline 7 is used for conveying pure oxygen; the CO
2 pipeline 8 is used for conveying CO
2, and oxygen-rich CO
2 is prepared with a certain volume concentration (in this embodiment, the oxygen concentration
is about 10%) in the injection borehole 5; the drainage pipeline 9 is used for draining
water in the coal seam during fracturing and coalbed gas extraction; the coalbed gas
pipeline 10 is used for discharging coalbed gas during the coalbed gas extraction
and conveying CO
2 at the end of gasification to store CO
2 into a combustion cavity formed after the gasification of the coal seam; and, the
gas pipeline 13 is used for conveying raw gas generated during gasification process
after ignition. The specific process is as below.
[0061] The high pressure CO
2 conveyed by the CO
2 pipeline 8 and the O
2 conveyed by the O
2 pipeline 7 are continuously injected into the coal seam 1 through the injection borehole
7, where the injection pressure is 1.1 times of the fracturing pressure of the coal
seam in order to force the gas medium to move through the natural apertures and fractures
of the coal seam and then fracture the coal seam to generate a communicating fracture
4, so that the injection borehole is brought to communicate with the production borehole
6 in the coal seam 1. Accordingly, the gas after fracturing is discharged from the
coalbed gas pipeline 10 to the ground through the production borehole 6.
[0062] The production borehole 6 is closed, and high pressure CO
2 continues to be injected into the coal seam 1 from the injection borehole 5, where
the injection pressure is not larger than the fracturing pressure of the coal seam
and the injection amount is determined according to the content of saturated gas of
the coal seam. After the total injection amount of CO
2 meets the requirements, CO
2 is stopped to be injected, both the injection borehole 5 and the production borehole
are closed for well soaking for 1-15 days to ensure that CO
2 fully contacts with the coal seam and displaces CH
4 adsorbed in the coal sea. Then, the production borehole is opened again, and the
water in the coal seam is drained by the drainage pipeline 9 to dewater the coal seam
1. Meanwhile, the coalbed gas pipeline 10 is opened to reduce the pressure at the
production borehole 6 and facilitate the desorption of the coalbed gas, which is collected
to a ground pipe network through the coalbed gas pipeline 10. After the extraction
is performed for a time and when the pressure at the bottom of the production borehole
6 drops to below 10 kPa, a next cycle of injection and extraction is performed.
[0063] When the content of CH
4 in the gas from the production borehole 6 drops significantly (that is, the volume
concentration is less than 5%), the production borehole 6 is opened, the drainage
pipeline 9 is taken away and the gas pipeline 13 is mounted. Then, the communication
valve between the production borehole 6 and the gas pipeline 13 is opened, and high
pressure CO
2 continues to be injected into the coal seam 1 from the injection borehole 5, where
the injection pressure is larger than the hydrostatic pressure of the coal sea and
the injection amount is determined according to the content of water in the coal seam.
Then, the CO
2 is discharged from the gas pipeline 13 to take away the water in the coal seam between
the boreholes, i.e., to dewater the coal sea, so that the coal seam at the bottom
of the production borehole 6 remains dry.
[0064] An electric igniter is placed down to a section of coal seam at the bottom of the
production borehole 6, the communication valve between the production borehole 6 and
the gas pipeline 13 is opened. The pure oxygen conveyed by the O
2 pipeline 7 and the CO
2 conveyed by the CO
2 pipeline 8 are mixed in the injection borehole 5 to obtain oxygen-rich CO
2 having an oxygen volume concentration of 20-30% as a gasification agent which is
then fed into the coal seam at the bottom of the production borehole 6 through the
communicating fracture 4. Then, the content of methane at the production borehole
is monitored, and the content of oxygen in the input gas is controlled to ensure that
the concentration of O
2 at the production borehole is not within the expansion limit of methane. After the
O
2 concentration or the content of methane meets the requirements, the igniter is started
to ignite the coal seam at the bottom of the production borehole 6, so that an original
fire zone 11 is established. The raw gas generated by the reaction of the gasification
agent and the coal seam 1 is discharged by the gas pipeline 13. The flow of the oxygen-rich
CO
2 is controlled (about 300-500 m
3/h) to allow the temperature of the fire zone to be not less than the temperature
of the spontaneous ignition point of the coal seam.
[0065] After the temperature of the fire zone exceeds 1000°C and if the pressure drop of
the input gas exceeds 10%, the flow of the oxygen-rich CO
2 is increased at a rate of 500-1000 Nm
3/h until the flow reaches 5000-8000 Nm
3/h, so that the fire source is allowed to move to the injection borehole in a direction
opposite to the airflow direction of the oxygen-rich CO
2. Because a gasification reaction and a pyrolytic reaction occur between the oxygen-rich
CO
2 and the coal seam:
C +
O2 →
CO2 -394kJ/mol
C +
CO2 → 2
CO + 173kJ/mol
C +
H2O →
H2 +
CO + 131kJ/mol
coal→H
2+CH
4+CO
2+tar+semicoke+...
a part of coal seam is gasified along the communicating fracture 4, and the communicating
fracture is expanded to gradually form a gasification passage 12, which is advantageous
for the discharge of gas. Meanwhile, the released heat is transferred to the coal
seam to facilitate desorption of CH
4 and to dry the coal seam, thereby increasing the permeability of the coal seam. The
desorbed methane, together with the gasified gas and the pyrolyzed gas, is discharged
through the production borehole 6 and the gas pipeline 13.
[0066] Then, the flow and the O
2 concentration are remained to perform reverse combustion (that is, the expansion
direction of the front edge of flame is opposite to the flow direction of the fed
gas), and the pressure at the injection borehole 5 is monitored in real time. When
the difference between the pressure of the injection borehole 5 and that of the production
borehole 6 is small (the pressure difference is less than about 0.3 MPa), it is indicated
that the gasification passage 12 between the lower end of the injection borehole 5
and the lower end of the production borehole 6 is established successfully.
[0067] After the gasification passage 12 is established, the concentration of oxygen in
the oxygen-rich CO
2 fed from the upper end of the injection borehole 5 to the underground is increased
up to 40-60% (with an increase of 2-5% per day) to improve the temperature of the
reaction zone, and forward gasification is performed (that is, the expansion direction
of the front edge of the flame is the same as the flow direction of the fed gas) to
ensure that CO
2 comes into full contact with the hot coal seam in the gasification passage and thus
realize the gasification of the coal seam between the boreholes. Meanwhile, as the
gasification space is expanded, the effect of the geostress becomes apparent, so that
crushed zones of the coal seam around the gasification passage are generated under
the combined action of heat effects, and the release of the coalbed gas is thus quickened.
In practices, the flow of the CO
2 oxygen-rich gas and/or the oxygen concentration may be adjusted according to the
thickness of dirt band of the coal seam, the content of water and the distance between
the boreholes. If the content of water in the coal seam is less than the amount of
water required for the gasification reaction, oxygen-rich CO
2 and water vapor may be injected, and the injection amount of water vapor is a result
obtained by dividing a difference between the amount of water required for the gasification
reaction and the content of water in the coal seam by a decomposition rate of the
water vapor.
[0068] The combustion cavity is formed after the gasification of the coal seam, and the
space of the combustion cavity is filled with ash, coke slag, dirt band, roof rocks
and un-gasified coal seam and may be used as a space for CO
2 storage. At the beginning of storage, the production borehole 6 is closed, the CO
2 pipeline 7 is opened, and high pressure CO
2 is injected, where the pressure of CO
2 is generally controlled to be 6-8 MPa and the injection amount of CO
2 is generally controlled to be 400-500 Nm
3/m
3 (400-500 m
3 of CO
2 per volume of the combustion cavity may be stored). The pressure and injection amount
of CO
2 are specifically determined according to the volume of the combustion cavity, the
hydrogeological conditions of the coal seam and the like.
[0069] In the present invention, the generated gasified gas, pyrolyzed gas and coalbed gas
are discharged from the production borehole and then used for synthesis of methane.
Embodiment 2
[0070] In Embodiment 2, the extraction rate of the coalbed gas is quickened by a pinnate
branch horizontal drilling technology, and the natural fractures and cleats of the
coal seam are communicated by a multilateral well technology, thereby increasing the
exposed area of the coal seam and facilitating the implementation of the subsequent
gasification. This embodiment will be described with reference to Fig. 4 and Fig.
5. Fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of the method for joint-mining of coalbed gas and
coal according to the present invention, wherein the extraction of coalbed gas is
performed by pinnate branch horizontal drilling. Fig. 5 is a schematic diagram of
the method for joint-mining of coalbed gas and coal. The specific implementation is
as below.
[0071] A vertical borehole as a production borehole 6 is constructed from the ground 2 to
the coal seam 1 through overlying strata 3. A vertical borehole as an injection borehole
5 is constructed at a certain distance away from the production borehole 6 (referring
to Embodiment 1), and the borehole 5 is brought to communicate with the borehole 6
in the coal seam. The injection borehole 5 is a pinnate horizontal borehole and includes
several groups of pinnate branch horizontal wells 14, and the bottom of the borehole
is located in the coal seal 1 to be gasified. For the pinnate branch horizontal wells,
the aperture and length of a main horizontal well and each of the branch wells and
the number of the branch wells among are determined according to the mining area of
the coal seal and the coalbed gas. To prevent the well wall from collapse, sieve tubes
may be put into the main horizontal well for supporting.
[0072] After the pinnate horizontal drilling is finished, a drainage rod pump is put in
the production borehole 6, and a drainage pipeline 9 and a coalbed gas pipeline 10
are mounted. An O
2 pipeline 7 and a CO
2 pipeline 8 are mounted at the orifice of the injection borehole 5. Then, the communication
valve between the production borehole 6 and the gas pipeline 10 is closed, and high
pressure N
2 is continuously injected into the coal seam from the injection borehole 5, where
the injection pressure is not larger than the fracturing pressure of the coal seal
and the injection amount is determined according to the content of the saturated gas
of the coal seam. After the total injection amount of N
2 meets the requirements, N
2 is stopped to be injected, and both the injection borehole 5 and the production borehole
are closed for well soaking for 10-20 days to ensure that N
2 comes into full contact with the coal seam and displaces CH
4 adsorbed in the coal seam. Then, the production borehole 6 is opened again, and the
water in the coal seam is drained by the drainage pipeline 9 to dewater the coal seam
1. Meanwhile, the coalbed gas pipeline 10 is opened to reduce the pressure at the
production borehole 6 and to facilitate desorption of the coalbed gas, and the coalbed
gas is collected to a ground tube network through the coalbed gas pipeline 10. After
the extraction is performed for a time and when the pressure at the bottom of the
production borehole 6 drops to below 10 kPa, a next cycle of injection and extraction
is performed.
[0073] When the content of CH
4 in the gas from the production borehole 6 drops significantly (that is, the volume
concentration is less than 5%), the production borehole 6 is opened, the drainage
pipeline 9 is taken away and the gas pipeline 13 is mounted. Then, the communication
valve between the production borehole 6 and the gas pipeline 13 is opened, and high
pressure CO
2 continues to be injected into the coal seam 1 from the injection borehole 5, where
the injection pressure is larger than the hydrostatic pressure of the coal sea and
the injection amount is determined according to the content of water in the coal seam.
Then, the CO
2 is discharged from the gas pipeline 13 to take away the water in the coal seam between
the boreholes, i.e., to dewater the coal sea, so that the coal seam at the bottom
of the production borehole 6 remains dry.
[0074] The pure oxygen conveyed by the O
2 pipeline 7 and the CO
2 conveyed by the CO
2 pipeline 8 are mixed in the injection borehole 5 to obtain oxygen-rich CO
2 having an oxygen volume concentration of 20-30% as a gasification agent and then
fed into the coal seam at the bottom of the production borehole 6 through the communicating
fracture 4. Then, the content of methane at the production borehole is monitored,
and the content of oxygen in the input gas is controlled to ensure that the concentration
of O
2 at the production borehole is not within the expansion limit of methane. After the
O
2 concentration or the content of methane meets the requirements, the communication
valve between the production borehole 6 and the gas pipeline 13 is opened. Hot coke
is put onto the bottom of production borehole 13, and the amount of the coke put is
determined according to the thickness of the coal seam, size of the sleeve, ignition
point of the coal seam and the like, so as to ignite the coal seam at the bottom of
production 6 and establish a original fire zone 11. The raw gas generated by the reaction
of the gasification agent and the coal seam 1 is discharged by the gas pipeline 13.
The flow of the oxygen-rich CO
2 is controlled to allow the temperature of the fire zone to be not less than the temperature
of the spontaneous ignition point of the coal seam.
[0075] After the temperature of the fire zone exceeds 1000°C and if the pressure drop of
the input gas exceeds 10%, the flow of the oxygen-rich CO
2 is increased at a rate of 300-500 Nm
3/h until the flow reaches 3000-5000 Nm
3/h, so that the fire source is allowed to move to the injection borehole in a direction
opposite to the airflow direction of the oxygen-rich CO
2. Because a gasification reaction and a pyrolytic reaction occur between the oxygen-rich
CO
2 and the coal seam;
C +
O2 →
CO2 -394kJ/mol
C +
CO2 → 2
CO + 173kJ/mol
C +
H2O →
H2 +
CO + 131kJ/mol
coal→H
2+CH
4+CO
2+tar+semicoke+...
a part of coal seam is gasified along the communicating fracture 4, and the communicating
fracture is expanded to gradually form a gasification passage 12, which is advantageous
for the discharge of gas. Meanwhile, the released heat is transferred to the coal
seam to facilitate the desorption of CH
4 and to dry the coal seam, thereby increasing the permeability of the coal seam. The
desorbed methane, together with the gasified gas and the pyrolyzed gas, is discharged
through the production borehole 6 and the gas pipeline 13.
[0076] Then, the flow is remained to perform reverse combustion (that is, the expansion
direction of the front edge of flame is opposite to the flow direction of the fed
gas), and the pressure at the injection borehole 5 is monitored in real time. When
the pressure shown by a pressure meter connected to the upper end of the injection
borehole 5 drops significantly (the pressure drop is generally 10-60% of the original
pressure), it is indicated that the original fire zone 11 has been expanded close
to the bottom of the injection borehole 5. When a difference between the pressure
of the injection borehole 5 and the pressure of the production borehole 6 is small
(or the pressure difference is less than about 0.3 MPa), it is indicated that the
gasification passage 12 between the lower end of the injection borehole 5 and the
lower end of the production borehole 6 is established successfully.
[0077] After the gasification passage 12 is established, the concentration of oxygen in
the oxygen-rich CO
2 fed from the upper end of the injection borehole 5 to the underground is increased
up to 50-70% (with an increase of 2-5% per day) to improve the temperature of the
reaction zone, and forward gasification is performed (that is, the expansion direction
of the front edge of the flame is the same as the flow direction of the fed gas) to
ensure that CO
2 comes into full contact with the hot coal seam in the gasification passage and thus
realize the gasification of the coal seam between the boreholes. Meanwhile, as the
gasification space is expanded, the effect of the geostress becomes apparent, so that
crushed zones of the coal seam around the gasification passage are generated under
the combined action of heat effects, and the release of the coalbed gas is thus quickened.
In practices, the flow of the CO
2 oxygen-rich gas and/or the oxygen concentration may be adjusted according to the
thickness of dirt band of the coal seam, the content of water and the distance between
the boreholes.
[0078] In the present invention, the generated gasified gas, pyrolyzed gas and coalbed gas
are discharged from the production borehole and then used for methane-power generation.
Embodiment 3
[0079] Embodiment 3 is basically the same as Embodiment 2, except for a different that an
original passage for drainage and gas extraction is established by directionally horizontal
drilling technology and the horizontal well 15 is formed with an arrangement mode
of a U-shape structure. The horizontal well is vertical to a direction of a primary
fracture of a coal seal, a vertical well, i.e., a production borehole 6, is used for
drainage while gas extraction is performed by an injection borehole 5. At the end
of the original extraction of coalbed gas, a fire zone is established in the production
borehole 6, the passage starts being heated, and the synchronous displacement of coalbed
gas is performed to implement the gasification of the coal seam between the boreholes.
This embodiment will be described with reference to Fig. 6 and Fig. 7. Fig. 6 is a
schematic diagram of a method for joint-mining of coalbed gas and coal according to
the present invention, where the extraction of coalbed gas is performed by directionally
horizontal drilling technology. Fig. 7 is a schematic diagram of the method for joint-mining
of coalbed gas and coal, wherein the ignition is performed, and a passage is heated
and then expanded to form a gasification passage for synchronous displacement of coalbed
gas. In the present invention, the produced gasified gas, pyrolyzed gas and coalbed
gas are discharged from the production borehole and then used for methane-methanol
production.
[0080] The present invention uses underground gasification to generate a large amount of
heat, so that the passage for coalbed gas fracturing is greatly expanded while heating
the coal seam and improving the methane desorption capacity of the coal seam, the
yield of the coalbed gas may be greatly improved, and the problem of low permeability
of coalbed gas reservoirs in China is fundamentally solved. Meanwhile, the underground
gasification chemically utilizes the coal seam, in which coalbed gas has been extracted,
and the generated gas containing a large amount of methane, CO and H
2 is converted by a ground technology to obtain clean methane. The collaborative development
and comprehensive utilization of coalbed gas and a coal seam itself in the present
invention may greatly reduce the production and development cost, improve the yield
of the final product methane, greatly promote the quality of gas and realize the joint-mining
of coal and coalbed gas. In addition, the use of fluid containing CO
2 as a processing medium for fracturing and gasification improves the methane desorption
capacity in the coal seam, the extraction rate of the coalbed gas and the content
of effective gas compositions such as methane or other combustible gases in the gasified
gas, and the generated CO
2 during this process may also be recycled. Therefore, the present invention is a new
low-carbon, efficient and clean method.
[0081] Although the present invention has been described in details above, the present invention
is not limited to the specific implementations as described herein. It should be understood
by those skilled in the art that other modifications and deformations may be made
without departing from the scope of the present invention. The scope of the present
invention is defined by the appended claims.
1. A method for joint-mining of coalbed gas and coal, comprising:
1) a well-drilling step: drilling from the ground to a coal seam to provide at least
one injection borehole and at least one production borehole for communicating the
coal seam with the ground;
2) a fracturing and penetration step: injecting a fracturing medium containing CO2 into the coal seam from the injection borehole, thereby forcing the fracture medium
to flow in the coal seam and to discharge from the production borehole so that the
injection borehole is brought to communicate with the production borehole in the coal
seam;
3) a coalbed gas extraction step: injecting a displacement medium into the coal seam
from the injection borehole, displacing coalbed gas in the coal seam, and collecting
the coalbed gas from the production borehole;
4) an ignition step: establishing a fire zone in the coal seam at the bottom of the
production borehole for igniting the coal seam; and
5) an underground gasification step: injecting a gasification agent containing CO2 into the coal seam from the injection borehole so that a gasification reaction and
a pyrolytic reaction occur between the gasification agent and the coal seam to generate
heat energy and a gasified gas, transferring the heat energy towards the inside of
the coal seam to generate a pyrolyzed gas, synchronously displacing the coalbed gas
to generate free methane, discharging and collecting the free methane, together with
the gasified gas and the pyrolyzed gas, from the production borehole.
2. The method for joint-mining of coalbed gas and coal according to claim 1, characterized in that, the fracturing medium is a mixture of CO2 and O2, and the volume concentration of O2 is below 20%.
3. The method for joint-mining of coalbed gas and coal according to claim 1,
characterized in that, further comprising:
6) a CO2 recycling step: recycling CO2 generated during the underground gasification step, and using a part of the recycled
CO2 as the gasification agent.
4. The method for joint-mining of coalbed gas and coal according to claim 3,
characterized in that, further comprising:
7) a CO2 storage step: at the end of the underground gasification of the coal seam between
the injection borehole and the production borehole, filling a part of the recycled
CO2 into a combustion cavity for burying and storage.
5. The method for joint-mining of coalbed gas and coal according to claim 1, characterized in that, prior to the ignition step 4), further comprising a safety detection step for ensuring
ignition safety.
6. The method for joint-mining of coalbed gas and coal according to claim 1, characterized in that, in the coalbed gas extraction step 3), the displacing coalbed gas in the coal seam
is injecting CO2 or N2 for displacement.
7. The method for joint-mining of coalbed gas and coal according to claim 1, characterized in that, the injection borehole or the production borehole is composed of a directional borehole
and a vertical borehole.
8. The method for joint-mining of coalbed gas and coal according to claim 1, characterized in that, the injection borehole and the production borehole are composed of vertical boreholes.
9. The method for joint-mining of coalbed gas and coal according to claim 1, characterized in that, the establishing a fire zone is performed by electric ignition or solid fuel ignition.
10. The method for joint-mining of coalbed gas and coal according to claim 1, characterized in that, the underground gasification comprises forward combustion, reverse combustion or
retracting injection point combustion.
11. The method for joint-mining of coalbed gas and coal according to claim 1, characterized in that, the well drilling is drilling a horizontal well in a direction vertical to a primary
fracture of the coal seam.
12. The method for joint-mining of coalbed gas and coal according to claim 1, characterized in that, the CO2 used in the fracturing and penetration step is gaseous, liquid or supercritical CO2, or a mixed liquid composed of liquid CO2, water collagen and chemical additive(s).
13. The method for joint-mining of coalbed gas and coal according to claim 1, characterized in that, in the fracturing and penetration step, when the pressure in the injection borehole
drops rapidly while the gas outflow of the production borehole is above 100 Nm3/h, the injection borehole and the production borehole have been communicated with
each other in the coal seam.
14. The method for joint-mining of coalbed gas and coal according to claim 1, characterized in that, in the underground gasification step, the volume concentration of O2 in the gasification agent containing CO2 is 20-70% to ensure that ash will not be melted.
15. The method for joint-mining of coalbed gas and coal according to claim 14, characterized in that, in the underground gasification step, the volume concentration of O2 in the gasification agent containing CO2 is 20-50% for establishment of a gasification passage.
16. The method for joint-mining of coalbed gas and coal according to claim 15, characterized in that, in the underground gasification step, the volume concentration of O2 in the gasification agent containing CO2 is 40-70% for gasification of the coal seam at the end of the establishment of the
gasification passage.
17. The method for joint-mining of coalbed gas and coal according to claim 1, characterized in that, if the content of water in the coal seam is less than the amount of water required
for the gasification of the coal seam at the end of extraction of the coalbed gas,
the gasification agent containing CO2 is a mixture of O2, CO2 and water vapor.
18. The method for joint-mining of coalbed gas and coal according to claim 1, characterized in that, for the conveying of the gasification agent in the underground gasification step,
the gasification agent is conveyed from the ground to the fire zone through an annular
conveying pipe or a borehole.
19. The method for joint-mining of coalbed gas and coal according to claim 3, characterized in that, the CO2 recycled in the CO2 recycling step comes from fume generated during gas power generation or a decarbonization
section during gas purification.
20. The method for joint-mining of coalbed gas and coal according to claim 1, characterized in that, the generated gasified gas, pyrolyzed gas and coalbed gas are discharged from the
production borehole for synthesis of methane, methane power generation or production
of methane-methanol.
21. The method for joint-mining of coalbed gas and coal according to claim 3, characterized in that, the CO2 recycled in the CO2 recycling step is used as the fracturing medium for the fracturing and penetration
step or the displacement medium for the coalbed gas extraction step.