Coalbed methane with CO2 sequestration: An emerging clean coal technology in India

Coalbed methane (CBM) is an emerging clean coal technology in India to extract in-situ entrapped methane of coal beds. Methane is a greenhouse and a calorific valuable gas providing an energy source for power production. The capture of entrapped methane gas prior to coal mining or from unmineable deep coal seams would result in a safe, clean and viable energy source. The use of major greenhouse gas CO2 for desorbing the entrapped methane in coal beds would result in efficient carbon capture and storage (CCS). As India contains 37% of coal reserves in the deep underground (>300 m), enhanced coalbed methane (ECBM) is a promising clean coal technology for methane recovery as well as CO2 sequestration. The present study evaluates the CBM potential of Indian bituminous/sub-bituminous coal reserves using Kim׳s correlation and further estimates the CO2 sequestration capacity of coal seams. These data are useful to the industries, which are aiming at the CBM resources of India. Further, the technical feasibility of ECBM integration with underground coal gasification (UCG) technology is also discussed for clean recovery of deep underground coal resources.