Recent Advances and Perspectives of CO2-Enhanced Coalbed Methane: Experimental, Modeling, and Technological Development

Carbon dioxide (CO2)-enhanced coalbed methane recovery (CO2-ECBM) is a critical way to increase methane production and reduce greenhouse gas (CO2 and CH4) emissions. As captured CO2 is continuously injected in the coal seams, a low cost of CO2 sequestration and high efficiency of CH4 recovery can be achieved via the flooding and replacing effects driven by the injected CO2 flow. Scientific insights into the complex process of CO2-ECBM in experiments, modelings, and technological developments need to be made to propose appropriate countermeasures. This review first highlights the progress of CO2-ECBM under laboratory conditions, e.g., the binary gas competitive adsorption and gas displacement experiments in the macroscale and porous structure tests using technologies of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and computed tomography (CT) in the microscale. Then, the advances of mathematical models for changing in coal permeability and porosity during CO2-ECBM are reviewed, accompanying with the multi-field and multi-phase coupling responses of competitive sorption, diffusion, gas–water seepage, heat transfer, and solid deformation. Furthermore, the field pilot tests of CO2-ECBM in various countries and regions are also covered to reveal the key technical challenges confronted with the development of CO2-ECBM technology. The perspectives in experiments, models, and field pilots of CO2-ECBM are made, which include but are not limited to the following: conducting a core CH4/CO2 flooding test under in situ conditions, modeling CO2-ECBM with real fractures/faults and coal failure, developing a new method for gas migration and leakage monitoring in the field, and enacting relevant standards, laws, and regulations to promote CO2-ECBM.