Gas Storage versus Gas Circulation in North Atlantic and Gondwana Coal Types

• Published in: International Journal of Energy for a Clean Environment
• Main Authors: Dinis, Maria Alzira Pimenta, Rodrigues, Cristina, Lemos de Sousa, M. J.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Begell House Inc. 2010
• Subjects: North-Atlantic type coal; Gondwana type coal; Gas storage; Gas circulation; Petrography; Romeo; North Atlantic
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10284/7886; https://doi.org/10.1615/InterJEnerCleanEnv.2011001661

http://sherpa.ac.uk/romeo/issn/2150-3621/ The growing insufficiency in oil and natural gas supplies and the rise in energy consumption all over the world have created new opportunities to other energy products and technologies. Coal acquired again an important role in the global energy survey. International Organizations are nowadays conscious and compromised to systematically move into Clean/Cleaner Coal Technologies (CCTs) and, above all, into Zero (or near zero) Emission Technologies (ZETs). Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) Technologies, acting in a complementary way to CCTs, are becoming one of the solutions to face Climate Changes, permitting not to avoid but to minimize at an acceptable level the Green House Gas Effect (GHGE). It is also imperative to emphasize the actual crucial role of coal as a natural gas source rock and as a reservoir. Yet it is also important to understand that when coal has a high gas generation potential this fact does not necessarily imply that coal also has a high gas storage capacity and a high gas circulation performance. This investigation aims to compare the gas storage capacity and the gas circulation behaviour between Gondwana and North-Atlantic coal types. Two sets of Gondwana and North-Atlantic coal types, with different ranks, were selected in the present research. Results revealed that the two sets of samples, corresponding to different facies and, consequently, with different chemical and physical properties, have quite different gas storage and gas circulation behaviours. In general terms, “North-Atlantic Type” coals have a higher CH4 storage capacity than “Gondwana Type” coals, due to differences in their petrographic characteristics, mainly in terms of vitrinite content, and rank but also, although in a smaller scale, in terms of gas sorption temperatures. Diffusion coefficient values present a higher dependency on temperature changes than on gas storage capacities due to the high activation energy induced by high temperatures. info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion