Evolution of coal permeability during gas/energy storage

Both carbon dioxide and hydrogen can be stored in coal seams as two enabling components of energy transition from fossil-based systems to renewable sources. In both cases, understanding the evolution of coal permeability under the influence of gas adsorption is extremely important. The gas sorption-induced deformation is commonly treated by analogous calculation of thermal expansion. This assumption has long been proved to be inconsistent with observations as reported in the literature. In this study, we hypothesize that the difference between the assumption and the reality is due to self-constrained/facilitated swelling phenomena during gas injection. Under this new hypothesis, coal could be constrained or facilitated depending on coal internal structures and processes. A concept of fictitious stress is introduced to quantify coal self-constrained or facilitated degree and converted into the equivalent effective stress. This conversion has transformed the conventional effective stress principle to unconventional one. This has led to new generic coal permeability model, which has been validated by experimental data. An analysis of stress state evolution during gas storage process is conducted. Our results suggest that our coal permeability model is a valuable tool for evaluation of gas storage in coal seams.