A new desorption-induced permeability dynamic model and its application in primary coalbed methane recovery

In the process of dewatering and recovery of coalbed methane, coal permeability exhibits a quite unique feature due to the interference of matrix shrinkage and stress effects. A new theoretical dynamic model was proposed for coal permeability based on the assumptions of matchstick geometry of the coal and uniaxial strain condition. Distinct from previous models such as P&M and S&D models, our model relates the gas-sorption-reduced strain to the change of surface energy of coal solids. One of the advantages of this model is that it does not require the sorption-reduced strain as an essential input, and therefore eliminates the related laborious and expensive laboratory measurement. The model was validated by fitting it to two sets of public data and shows an excellent match with the observed data. The results also indicate that our model has a better performance in predicting the permeability dynamics than P&M and S&D models. Additionally, a sensitivity analysis of the effect of input parameters on permeability dynamics was conducted by gray-relation theory, and the initial porosity and reservoir temperature are demonstrated to exert a most distinguished effect on the permeability dynamics. Finally, the proposed model was incorporated into a numerical simulator and successfully applied to conduct a history match of the gas and water production rate in a developed territory.