Preliminary reservoir model of enhanced coalbed methane (ECBM) in a subbituminous coal seam,Huntly Coalfield,New Zealand |
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| Authors: | Sadiq J Zarrouk Tim A Moore |
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| Institution: | 1. Department of Engineering Science, University of Auckland, Private Bag 92019, Auckland, New Zealand;2. Solid Energy New Zealand Ltd, PO Box. 1303, Christchurch, New Zealand;3. Department of Geological Sciences, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand |
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| Abstract: | The Huntly coalfield has significant coal deposits that contain biogenically-sourced methane. The coals are subbituminous in rank and Eocene in age and have been previously characterised with relatively low to moderate measured gas (CH4) contents (2–4 m3/ton). The CO2 holding capacity is relatively high (18.0 m3/ton) compared with that of CH4 (2.6 m3/ton) and N2 (0.7 m3/ton) at the same pressure (4 MPa; all as received basis). The geothermal gradient is also quite high at 55 °C/km.A study has been conducted which simulates enhancement of methane recovery (ECBM) from these deposits using a new version of the TOUGH2 (version 2) reservoir simulator (ECBM-TOUGH2) that can handle non-isothermal, multi-phase flows of mixtures of water, CH4, CO2 and N2. The initial phase of the simulation is CH4 production for the first 5 years of the field history. The model indicates that methane production can be significantly improved (from less than 80% recovery to nearly 90%) through injection of CO2. However, although an increase in the rate of CO2 injection increases the amount of CO2 sequestered, the methane recovery (because of earlier breakthrough with increasing injection rate) decreases. Modeling of pure N2 injection produced little enhanced CH4 production. The injection of a hypothetical flue gas mixture (CO2 and N2) also produced little increase in CH4 production. This is related to the low adsorption capacity of the Huntly coal to N2 which results in almost instantaneous breakthrough into the production well. |
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