Diffusion models for gas production from coals

Experimental studies of methane diffusion from coal cuttings have been analysed with both a unipore diffusion model and a bi-disperse pore structure diffusion model to determine the time range of each model's validity. Initial desorption, during the first 50% of volume desorbed, can be adequately described by the unipore model. For Fruitland coals of the San Juan Basin, the unipore diffusion coefficient varied by less than a factor of 2 from a value of 1 × 10−5s−1 despite large variations in sample depth and location. The unipore diffusion model has been successfully incorporated into a lost-gas-correction-factor determination as part of a new technique to delineate coal-bed methane. To describe methane diffusion over the full timescale of desorption, a more complex model which more accurately represents the observed bi-disperse pore structure of coal is required. Using that model the observed desorption rate is described over all the desorption. This model is especially applicable as a source term in describing overall well production.