Coalbed methane in China. Geological theory and development / Метан из угольных пластов в Китае. Геологическая теория и разработка

With the rapid development of the national economy, China’s demand for energy continues growing, and the contradiction between oil and gas supply and demand has become increasingly prominent. From a net exporter of crude oil in 1993 to an importer, China’s demand for crude oil import has increased year by year as domestic demand continues growing. In 2007, China’s net crude oil imports were 15928
104 t, a year-on-year increase of 14.7%. The external dependence of crude oil reached 46.05%. According to the forecast, like crude oil, natural gas will have a supply gap in recent years. CBM is an unconventional natural gas resource-rich and less developed in China. The total resource of CBM with a depth of less than 2000 m in China is 32.86
1012 m3 , of which the technically recoverable resource is 13.90
1012 m3
. The prospective resources of CBM are roughly equivalent to the conventional natural gas in China. CBM is a clean energy source that is second after conventional natural gas. The development and utilization of CBM have important practical significance for ensuring the long-term rapid development of China’s natural gas industry. Coalmine safety is very important for the development of coal industry. Since 2001, with the increase of CBM (gas) extraction, the government has attached great importance to and invested a lot of human and financial resources. The death toll caused by coalmine accidents has generally declined. However, the number of coalmine accidents and casualties remains high. In 2006, there were 2945 coalmine accidents and 4746 deaths, including 327 gas accidents and 1319 deaths, accounting for 11.1% and 27.8% of industrial accidents in the coal industry, respectively. Statistics show that the number of people killed in gas accidents in recent years accounted for about 25% to 40% of the deaths from industrial accidents in the coal industry in China, causing huge economic losses. By “first producing gas and then coal,” a coordinated development model between CBM and coal can be established, and the common development of CBM industry and coal industry will be realized, which will provide an important guarantee for the harmonious development of the national economy and society. Environmental protection is an important part of a sustainable development strategy in China and the world in the twenty-first century. The air pollution caused by coal-based primary energy consumption structure is very serious, which leads to extensive acid rain and deteriorated urban air. The distribution of acid rain accounts for 8.4% of China’s land area. The main component of CBM is methane (CH4), while the “greenhouse effect” of methane is 22 times that of carbon dioxide (CO2). In China, a large amount of CH4 is directly discharged into the atmosphere due to coal mining. The higher CH4 emissions make China face increasing pressure from the international community. As an energy, the CO2 released by CBM burning the same calorific value is 50% less than oil and 75% less than coal. The pollutants produced by CBM combustion are generally only 1/40 of oil and 1/800 of coal. Accelerating the development of the CBM industry and rapidly increasing the proportion of natural gas in the national primary energy consumption structure can effectively reduce CH4 and CO2 emissions, which is an important way to improve and protect the living environment in China. <...>