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EDITORIAL article

Front. Earth Sci., 09 May 2023
Sec. Economic Geology
This article is part of the Research Topic Exploration, Exploitation, and Utilization of Coal-Measure Gas into the Future: Volume II View all 17 articles

Editorial: Exploration, exploitation, and utilization of coal-measure gas into the future: Volume II

  • 1College of Geosciences and Engineering, North China University of Water Resources and Electric Power, Zhengzhou, China
  • 2School of Resources and Environment, Henan Polytechnic University, Jiaozuo, China
  • 3College of Earth Science and Engineering, Shandong University of Science and Technology, Qingdao, China

Introduction

As climate change-being a dire challenge for all mankind-impinges on every continent, the exigencies of reducing greenhouse gas emissions have gained soaring attention around the world (Zou et al., 2022). Scientists have made strides in understanding the pivotality of unconventional energies (Bustin and Clarkson, 1998; Zou et al., 2018), in particular coal-measure gas (e.g., coal-bed methane, shale gas, and tight sandstone gas), for mitigating global warming (Avci et al., 2021). And, great successes have been achieved over the past decades.

The exploration, exploitation and utilization of coal-measure gas concern the majors of physics, geology, engineering, etc, and there are many hot Research Topic presented recently (Dai et al., 2019). Yet less is known about the measures to achieve the net carbon emissions of coal-measure gas, which entails how to identify its occurrence and production, how to determine its transformation technologies, and how to examine the applicability of its CO2 geological storage conditions.

Coalbed methane

During the past few decades, China has achieved significant success in the exploration, exploitation, and utilization of coalbed methane, especially in the hot areas of Qinshui and Ordos Basins. Jiang et al. analyzed the pore structure characteristics of coal samples by low-temperature liquid-nitrogen adsorption measurements. Du et al. investigated the cleat and micro-fracture morphology and its aperture, distribution of minerals, and matrix/fracture interactions for the coals of different ranks. Jian et al. provided a new model for solid waste treatment of coal mine and green mining. Wang et al. analyzed the coal-forming environment during mass extinction in the latest Permian. Li et al. studied coalbed methane accumulation, in situ stress, and permeability of low-rank coals in a complex structural region. Shao et al. determined the potential of gas resources in the Huanghebei coalfield and analyzed the sedimentary reservoir control mechanism. Bao et al. analyzed the ionic concentrations, hydrogen and oxygen isotopes, dissolved inorganic carbon isotopes and trace elements for water samples from coalbed methane wells. Jiang et al. studied coalbed methane flow characteristics based on fractal bifurcation fracture network model.

Shale and sandstone gas

Ge et al. investigated and evaluated the shale gas resources in Lucaogou Formation, and identified the reservoir performance, preservation conditions, compressibility and gas bearing property of gas bearing shale intervals. Yu et al. analyzed the convergent deformation of the cavern while considering the spatial variability distribution of the elastic modulus for sandstones. Hu et al. studied on influencing factors and mechanism of pore compressibility of tight sandstone reservoir.

CO2 injection

CO2 injection is beneficial for unconventional gas recovery, and gas desorption, diffusion, permeation, and production are the entire process during the injection. Niu et al. conducted the anisotropic permeability test and the CO2 injectivity simulation test, and established the corresponding numerical models. He et al. solved the problem of inaccurate gas content measurement due to the unclear characteristics of rapid gas desorption in 0–10 s, and improved the gas desorption experimental device. Chen et al. indicated that the integrated technology of gas production and CO2 capture and sequestration in the coal goafs and the abandoned coal mines can improve the energy production efficiency and reservoir space utilization. Chen et al. compared the changes of pore structure and porosity due to the supercritical CO2 extraction, and discussed the evolution of pore characteristics change with coal rank because of supercritical CO2 extraction.

Author contributions

MZ wrote the primary paper, ZW and JZ revised the paper. All authors had reviewed the paper.

Funding

The authors wish to acknowledge financial supports of this study by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant Nos. 41702168 and 42202207.

Acknowledgments

We are grateful to all of the authors who responded to our call to participate in the compilation of this Research Topic. Our gratitude is also extended to all reviewers who kindly reviewed one or more of the manuscripts submitted to this Research Topic and provided valuable comments and recommendations.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Publisher’s note

All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

References

Avci, I., Ozarpa, C., and Aydin, M. A. (2021). Mitigating global warming in smart energy grids via energy supply security for critical energy infrastructures. Int. J. Glob. Warm. 25 (3/4), 288–305. doi:10.1504/ijgw.2021.10042671

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Zou, M., Wei, S., Huang, Z., Lv, X., and Guo, B. (2018). Simulations on recoverability performances for a coalbed methane field in SE edge of Ordos basin, China. Fuel 233, 354–360. doi:10.1016/j.fuel.2018.06.071

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Keywords: coal-measure gas, shale, coalbed methane, CO2, sandstone gas

Citation: Zou M, Wang Z and Zhang J (2023) Editorial: Exploration, exploitation, and utilization of coal-measure gas into the future: Volume II. Front. Earth Sci. 11:1191521. doi: 10.3389/feart.2023.1191521

Received: 22 March 2023; Accepted: 18 April 2023;
Published: 09 May 2023.

Edited and reviewed by:

Shuai Yin, Xi’an Shiyou University, China

Copyright © 2023 Zou, Wang and Zhang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

*Correspondence: Mingjun Zou, zoumingjun2008@163.com

Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.