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Capillarity 2022, 5(1): 1-11 https://doi.org/10.46690/capi.2022.01.01
Invited Review | Open Access | Issue | Published: 11 October 2021

Sorption characteristics in coal and shale: A review for enhanced methane recovery

Show Author's Information Xiangjie Qin1,  Harpreet Singh2,  Jianchao Cai1 ( )
State Key Laboratory of Petroleum Resources and Prospecting, China University of Petroleum, Beijing 102249, P. R. China
Independent Researcher, Houston, TX 77042, USA
Keywords:
shale gas, enhanced recovery, Coalbed methane, sorption
Cite this article:
Qin X, Singh H, Cai J. Sorption characteristics in coal and shale: A review for enhanced methane recovery. Capillarity, 2022, 5(1): 1-11. https://doi.org/10.46690/capi.2022.01.01
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Abstract Full text About this article

The exploration and exploitation of hydrocarbon resources within coal and shale reservoirs is an engineering challenge. Well-developed internal micro-pore structures, complex sorption mechanism as well as numerous influencing factors affecting the gas flow are generally not well-accounted in the commercial life-cycle of shale gas and coalbed methane wells. Although large number of studies have been conducted to propose improved sorption models and study the influencing factors on adsorption and desorption characteristics of methane and CO2 in coal and shale reservoirs, a systematic review of such studies for efficient understanding of the accumulated literature is missing, especially with a focus towards coal and shale reservoirs. In that context, this study presents a review of sorption characteristics of methane in coal and shale. Firstly, theoretical mechanisms for methane sorption are introduced, followed by description of sorption models. Further, three factors influencing the sorption of gas in coal and shale are described: total organic carbon and clays, pore structures, and reservoir conditions. Finally, the preferential sorption characteristics of hydrocarbons and carbon dioxide are described, and the methods to promote methane desorption for enhanced recovery are discussed, which include technologies such as gas injection, microwave heating, and hydraulic fracturing.


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Sorption characteristics in coal and shale: A review for enhanced methane recovery

Show Author's information Xiangjie Qin1, Harpreet Singh2, Jianchao Cai1 ( )
State Key Laboratory of Petroleum Resources and Prospecting, China University of Petroleum, Beijing 102249, P. R. China
Independent Researcher, Houston, TX 77042, USA

Abstract

The exploration and exploitation of hydrocarbon resources within coal and shale reservoirs is an engineering challenge. Well-developed internal micro-pore structures, complex sorption mechanism as well as numerous influencing factors affecting the gas flow are generally not well-accounted in the commercial life-cycle of shale gas and coalbed methane wells. Although large number of studies have been conducted to propose improved sorption models and study the influencing factors on adsorption and desorption characteristics of methane and CO2 in coal and shale reservoirs, a systematic review of such studies for efficient understanding of the accumulated literature is missing, especially with a focus towards coal and shale reservoirs. In that context, this study presents a review of sorption characteristics of methane in coal and shale. Firstly, theoretical mechanisms for methane sorption are introduced, followed by description of sorption models. Further, three factors influencing the sorption of gas in coal and shale are described: total organic carbon and clays, pore structures, and reservoir conditions. Finally, the preferential sorption characteristics of hydrocarbons and carbon dioxide are described, and the methods to promote methane desorption for enhanced recovery are discussed, which include technologies such as gas injection, microwave heating, and hydraulic fracturing.

Keywords: shale gas, enhanced recovery, Coalbed methane, sorption

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Publication history

Received: 20 September 2021
Revised: 07 October 2021
Accepted: 08 October 2021
Published: 11 October 2021
Issue date: February 2022

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© The Author(s) 2021.

Acknowledgements

Our research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 42172159) and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (No. 2462019YJRC011).

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Open Access This article is distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY-NC-ND) license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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