Possibilities for use of coal bed methane & coal bed mine in Asturias

Abstract

There is a number of risk issues associated with CBM/CMM operations: sealing the mine shafts; pumping the mine water; evacuating air from the mine and air ingress into the mine. Our team has investigated the details of the initial phase of the business plan and, by extrapolation of key parameters, was able to form an opinion on the larger plan. The details investigated include: the methods to calculate the volume of gas entrapped in the coal; the sealing of the mine shafts to trap the gas escape; and the process to keep the mines pumped dry by removing the underground water that drains into the mine workings.