Molecular simulation of CO2/N2 injection on CH4 adsorption and diffusion

• Published in: Scientific reports Vol. 14; no. 1; pp. 20777 - 15
• Main Authors: Li, Ziwen, Hu, Hongqing, Wang, Yinji, Gao, Yabin, Yan, Fazhi, Bai, Yansong, Yu, Hongjin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group 06.09.2024; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: Adsorption; Carbon dioxide; CH4 diffusion; Clean energy; Coal; Coalbed methane; Diffusion; Displacement; Emissions control; Energy conservation; Gas adsorption; Gases; Greenhouse gases; Injection; Methane; Molecular dynamics; Porosity; Porosity changes; Velocity distribution
• ISSN: 2045-2322; 2045-2322
• DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-71382-7

As an efficient and clean energy, coalbed methane development and utilization have deep significance in promoting energy conservation and emission reduction, reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Therefore, molecular simulation was utilized to study the influence of N2/CO2 on the adsorption and diffusion of methane in coal under different gas injection methods and to elucidate the influence of varying gas injection methods on the efficiency of coalbed methane extraction, which provides a basis for the efficient development of coalbed methane. The results show that the adsorption effect of gases in coal decreases with the increase of temperature and increases with the rise of pressure, and the adsorption performance of the three gases in coal shows the law of CO2 > CH4 > N2. In addition, the injection of CO2/N2 had an obvious inhibition effect on CH4 adsorption, and the inhibition effect of CO2 was more significant, and the inhibition effect on CH4 adsorption reached the maximum when the two gases were mixture injected. In terms of diffusion, compared with separate injection, mixed injection of N2 + CO2 promotes CH4 diffusion more effectively, which can be reflected in the relative concentration distribution and velocity distribution. The injection of N2 helps to increase the porosity of coal, and the injection of CO2 and N2 + CO2 will lead to the decrease of porosity, but the mixed gas injection has less effect than the injection of CO2 alone.