CHITTAGONG UNIVERSITY OF ENGINEERING & TECHNOLOGY
CHITTAGONG-4349
B.Sc Engineering
Department of Petroleum & Mining Engineering
Name of The Subject MINING SYSTEM LABORATORY
Course Code PME 364
A REPORT ON CBM PRODUCTION WITH UNDERGROUND
Name of The Report MINING SYSTEMS
Date of Submission: 02-01-2022
Submitted by Remarks
Name: Md. Atiqul Haque
ID: 1707001
Name: Sanuar Jahan Monir
ID: 1707005
Name: Md. Rasel Rana
ID: 1707030
Introduction:
“It is impossible to make some one better off without making another one worse off”, although a
mining activity may has some harm to the surrounding environment and to the population, but
there a lot of advantages it renders. Ores such as metals, oil shale, coal, gemstones, chalk rocksalt
etc. are recovered by mining. The simple aim to select and implement a particular mine plan is
always to mine a mineral deposit so that profit is maximized given the unique charactestics of the
deposit and, current market prices for the mined minerals, its location and limits imposed by
economy, environment, safety. If this natural resources are not used, they will lie underneath which
will have no economical value at all. But the activities involved in a coalmine development require
more precaution, abiding by the safety rules strictly and environmental regulations precisely.
Extraction of minerals that carried out beneath the earth’s surface is named as underground mining.
Underground mining methods are employed when the depth of deposit, the stripping ratio of
overburden to ore or coal or stone or both become excessive for surface exploitation. In
underground mining situation selection of a mining method is very vital, as it has direct impact on
safety, productivity, cost and recovery.
Coal is the most widespread energy resources (fossil fuel) around the world and remains a pivotal
contributor to energy part in many countries. CBM (Coal Bed Methane) is related to coal reserve.
Coal bed methane refers to the methane gas that occurs within coal beds lying underground.
Because of its surface capacity to absorb gases, coal may store a substantial amount of gas.
Although coal has a solid appearance and appears to be a hard rock, it contains many pores smaller
than a micron size, making it sponge-like. The coal surface becomes so broad as a result of this
state that it may store significant volumes of gas. The ability to absorb gas coal will grow as the
gas pressure rises. Natural gas and coal bed methane are quite similar, with the exception of how
they are created and stored in the Earth's crust. Unlike a lot of natural gas from typical sources,
coal bed methane has very little heavier hydrocarbons like propane or butane, and it's also quite
cheap.
Historically, CBM has been considered as a safety hazard in underground coal mine because of
explosion and accidents associated with it. Lately, however technology has developed to
commercially extract the CBM from coal bed by drilling wells, thus making it significant energy
resources.
Classification of Underground Mining Methods:
Underground methods are differentiated by
• The type of wall and roof supports used,
• The configuration and size of production openings, and
• The direction in which mining operations progress.
They are mainly classified into 3 classes-
A. Unsupported Methods: extract mineral deposit that are mainly tabular and generally associated
with strong ore and surrounding rock.
B. Supported Methods: used in mines with weak rock structure.
C. Caving Methods: involved caving the ore and/ or the overlying rock.
Underground mining method can be classified in broadly-
Assessment of CBM Resources:
The USGS is studying geological areas to characterize the hydrologic and geologic controls on
coalbed methane generation and production. This study will represent the following topics:
• Determine the rank, gas content, thickness, burial history of coal beds and distribution of coal
seam.
• Allow methane to move through the bed are characterized by the cleats. This work is
instrumental to developing predictive models for recovery of coal-bed methane.
• The developing regional models of fluid flow through the coal bed to understand the variability
of methane production and to help plan for the disposal of produced water.
• Analyze the composition of produced waters to construct models that predict water quality and
assess the effects of injected waters on the strata into which they are placed.
• Prospecting for CBM (coal bed methane) for such fields is an alternative option which may
well be economically profitable.
• Considering the prerequisite factors for CBM development, Jamalganj coalfield is considered
a viable candidate for CBM prospecting in Bangladesh.
• The Jamalganj coalfield has the largest coal reserve in Bangladesh. Some of the coal seams
are very thick and there are evidence of high methane content in the coal. Also the coal bed
seams in Jamalganj field lie within the optimum depth range for CBM development.
• The following important factors that governing the assessment of CBM development are:
1. coal rank;
2. methane content of coal;
3. depth of coal seams;
4. thickness of coal seams and;
5. permeability of coal bed.
In Gondwana coal basin, Characteristics of considered viable for CBM developing are:
• Coal rank: high
• Gas content: (6-7) m3/ ton
• Thickness of coal seam: excess of 30 m
• Depth of burial: 600 m
• Permeability: > 1.5 md
• In-situ reserve: > 1 billion tons of coal
a) Coal rank and gas content: coal rank of jamalganj coal field is bituminous coal that is
high rank for medium to highly volatile. Gas content is a lack of information in this field.
b) Depth of coal seam: the depth range of Jamalganj coal field seam is from 641-1126 m.
this depth is acceptable for CBM prospect in Jamalganj.
c) Thickness of coal seam: seam thickness of Jamalganj coal field is very thick for some
coal seam that is a great advantages for CBM.
d) Permeability of coal seam: it is a critical factor of gas flow measurement or flow
characteristics of coal beds. unfortunately, permeability data is unknown for Jamalganj
coal field.
CBM Production Process:
In the traditional method of CBM production, cost-effective production depends on the
permeability of the coal seams layer.
However, with advancements in drilling techniques for controlling direction, the direction of the
drill bit can now be controlled. The borehole can be determined freely from the surface, allowing
the extended. It is possible to drill into the coal stratum.
Production technologies include-
i. Conventional drilling: A conventional well like those used for natural gas is drilled, then
fluid is forced down the well to fracture the coal, which releases methane gas.
ii. Drilling before mining: Wells are drilled before mining, releasing some methane and
reducing the risk of explosion. After a seam is mined pillars are pulled, causing a collapse
called gob. The gob forms a reservoir for methane.
iii. Horizontal drilling: A motor behind the drill bit can be twisted to drill horizontally into a
coal sea, which is fractured to produce methane.
One method is to simply –
- Drill a well to the coal seam: Wells are drilled down to the coal bed (or just above it) where some
gas is produced upon drilling
- Fracture the coal: The coal is then mined out and the roof collapse creating a large void of
collapsed rock that may intersect coal bed above the main bed.
- Pump out the water and: Once the water is removed, the methane is able to escape from the coal
and flow into the well itself.
- Connect the well to a gas pipeline: Gas accumulates in the gob and pumped out by the existing
gas wells.
Another variation of this post mining gas extraction is the drilling of gas wells in the abandoned
underground mine. A typical well can produce CBM for up to 15 years. a much shorter life span
than that of a coal mine. However, unlike a coal mine, the later years generally produces the most
methane since the well contains less water allowing the release of more CBM.
Fig.01:- CBM process
Prospect of CBM in Bangladesh:
Bangladesh's biggest coalfields are located in the Bogura-Dinajpur-Rangpur region of the
country's northwestern region. Conventional coal mining is not suitable in certain coalfields due
to the relatively deep depths of the coal strata. For such fields, exploring for coal bed methane
could be a viable alternative.
Considering the prerequisite factors for CBM development Jamalganj coalfield is considered a
viable candidate for CBM prospecting in Bangladesh. Jamalgang coalfield has largest coal reserve
in Bangladesh. Some of the coal are very thick and there are evidence of high methane content in
coal. Although the coal seams in Jamalganj field lie within the optimum depth range of CBM
development. The thickest seam III (over 40m) can be a primary target for CBM development
especially where it combines with seam IV in the eastern part of the coalfield.
Interest in CBM development in Jamalganj coal field was shown by multinational company. In
1990s, BHP-UTAH International Inc. submitted to the government a proposal for undertaking
exploration and development and development of CBM in Jamalganj coalfield. The favorable
factors of Jamalganj coal bed methane development have been point out in the proposal with a
suggestion for undertaking a feasibility studies.
All the gas fields in Bangladesh occur in the eastern half of the country and prospect of finding
conventional natural gas in the western part is low from geological point of view. The gap or
disparity of gas consumption and the industrial development between the east and western part of
the country is too availability of gas in the east. Development of CBM in the coalfield of the
northwest Bangladesh could somewhat help to lessen the above gap or disparity.
Conclusion:
Estimating oil and gas reserves is one of the most important phases of the work of a petroleum
engineer. Primarily because the results of such estimates are often the basis not only for significant
financial investment, but also for socio-political decision-making. Accordingly, the estimation of
coalbed methane resources and reserves is a required first step in the commercial development of
the world’s gas-charged coal seams. It is easy to create pulverized coal obstruction, stress sensitive
damage, and gas/water lock damage in CBM well production processes.
Reference:
1.Reference to books
• Energy resources of Bangladesh (second edition) by Badrul Imam.
• Introductory Mining Engineering (2nd Edition) by HOWARD L. HARTMAN & JAN M.
MUTMANSKY
2. Reference to articles
• M. Rafiqul Islam, in Unconventional Gas Reservoirs, 2015
• By V Nuccio. Cited by 28- models and to further our ability to assess accurately the
potential U.S. coal bed methane resource. The resource: Methane from coal.
3. https://energyeducation.ca/encyclopedia/Coal_bed_methane
4. https://en.banglapedia.org/index.php/Coal_Bed_Methane
5. https://slideplayer.com/slide/5128320/
