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Changes in mineral fraction and pore morphology of coal with acidification treatment: contribution of clay minerals to methane adsorption

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Abstract

The accurate calculation of the contribution which provided by clay minerals in coal on methane adsorption not only bares a significant importance for evaluating the effectiveness of acid stimulation in improving permeability and estimating the coalbed methane reserves but also serves a guide for the governance and utilization of methane resources. In this study, hydrochloric acid (HCl) and hydrofluoric acid (HF) were used to remove specific minerals in Qingdong coal samples. We firstly analyzed the mineral compositions of coal samples with different acidification treatments based on the X-ray diffraction (XRD) experiments, together with analysis of the changes in pore morphology and adsorption capacity. The results showed that acidification did not significantly change the shape of the pores, which remained slit-/plate-like pore. However, the altered adsorption capacity of the coal samples was attributed to changes in pore structure and mineral distribution. Acid erosion of mesopores promoted the transition from mesopores to macropores, contributing to an increase of 8.4% and 24.36% in the percentage of macropores in coal samples treated with HCl and HF, respectively. Fractal dimension D1 grew from 2.2193 to 2.3888 and 2.2572, respectively, but D2 decreased from 2.6146 to 2.5814 and 2.5433, indicating an increment in pore surface roughness and a simplification of the pore structure. The mineral richness of the coal seams should be taken into consideration when applying acid stimulation to increase permeability due to that the acidification products may block the passage of gas migration when the mineral content is slight, which can hinder gas extraction. The aim of this study is to quantitatively determine the contribution rate of clay minerals in coal to methane adsorption with a calculation method is provided by combining pore parameters and limit adsorption capacity, resulting in a contribution rate of 15%.

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The data and materials used to support the fundings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon request.

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Funding

The authors received financial support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 52174216 and 51974300), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (Nos. 2021YCPY0206 and 2020ZDPY0224), and Shandong Engineering Research Center of Mine Gas Disaster Control Open Project (Nos. LMYK2022001 and LMYK2022002).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Engineering Research Center for Coal and Gas Control, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou, 221116, China

    Liang Wang

  2. Key Laboratory of Gas and Fire Control for Coal Mines, Ministry of Education, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou, 221116, Jiangsu, China

    Liang Wang, Ziwei Li, Jing Li & Yinchang Chen

  3. School of Safety Engineering, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou, 221116, China

    Liang Wang, Ziwei Li, Jing Li & Yinchang Chen

  4. National and Local Joint Engineering Laboratory of Internet Application Technology On Mine, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou, 221116, China

    Kaizhong Zhang

  5. Shandong Engineering Research Center of Mine Gas Disaster Control, Qingdao, 266404, China

    Xiwei Han & Guangwei Xu

  6. The First Prospecting Team of Shandong Bureau of Coal Geology, Qingdao, 266404, China

    Xiwei Han & Guangwei Xu

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  1. Liang Wang
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Contributions

Liang Wang: conceptualization, methodology, writing—review and editing. Ziwei Li: methodology, formal analysis, validation, investigation, data curation, visualization, writing—original draft. Jing Li: investigation, writing—review and editing. Yincahng Chen: writing—review and editing. Kaizhong Zhang: supervision, writing—review and editing. Xiwei Han: resources. Guangwei Xu: resources.

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Correspondence to Kaizhong Zhang.

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Wang, L., Li, Z., Li, J. et al. Changes in mineral fraction and pore morphology of coal with acidification treatment: contribution of clay minerals to methane adsorption. Environ Sci Pollut Res 30, 114886–114900 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-30414-x

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