Coal and Coalbed Gas: Future Directions and Opportunities, Second
Edition introduces the latest in coal geology research and the
engineering of gas extraction. Importantly, the second edition
examines how, over the last 10 years, research has both changed
focus and where it is conducted. This shift essentially depicts "a
tale of two worlds"—one half (Western Europe, North America)
moving away from coal and coalbed gas research and production
towards cleaner energy resources, and the other half
(Asia–Pacific region, Eastern Europe, South America) increasing
both research and usage of coal. These changes are marked by a
precipitous fall in coalbed gas production in North America;
however, at the same time there has been a significant rise in coal
and coalbed gas production in Australia, China, and India. The
driver for higher production and its associated research is a quest
for affordable energy and economic security that a large resource
base brings to any country like Australia’s first large-scale
coalbed gas to liquid natural gas projects supplying the demand for
cleaner burning LNG to the Asian-Pacific region. Since the last
edition of this book, global climate change policies have more
forcibly emphasized the impact of methane from coal mines and
placed these emissions equal to, or even more harmful than, CO2
emissions from fossil fuels in general. Governmental policies have
prioritized capture, use, and storage of CO2, burning coal in new
highly efficient low emission power plants, and gas pre-drainage of
coal mines. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and
Development (OECD) countries and China are also introducing new
research into alternative, non-fuel uses for coal, such as carbon
fibers, nanocarbons, graphene, soil amendments, and as an
unconventional ore for critical elements. New to this edition: Each
chapter is substantially changed from the 1st edition including
expanded and new literature citations and reviews, important new
data and information, new features and materials, as well as
re-organized and re-designed themes. Importantly, three new
chapters cover global coal endowment and gas
potential, groundwater systems related to coalbed gas
production and biogenic gas generation as well as the changing
landscape of coal and coalbed gas influenced by global climate
change and net-zero carbon greenhouse gas emissions. FOREWORD When
I reviewed the first edition of this book, my initial thought was,
"Do we need another book on coal geology?" and then I read it and
realised, "Yes, we need this book" and my students downloaded
copies as soon as it was available. So now we come to 2023, and a
lot has happened in the past decade. For a different reason we
might ask if we still need this book, or even coal geoscientists
and engineers, as the world aims for rapid decarbonisation of the
energy sector and a reduction of coal as a feedstock for industrial
resources, like steel manufacture. Natural gas is earmarked as a
transition fuel to enable the shift to renewables. In some basins,
the source of that gas is directly from coalbed gas production or
from conventional reservoirs that were charged by coal and
terrestrial organic source rocks. Although the transition is
escalating, there are projections that coal will remain part of our
future, even after 2050, and can also provide alternative non-fuel
resources (e.g., critical elements and carbon-based nanomaterials).
Between now and then, we’d best ensure that we extract and
utilise coal and coalbed gas as efficiently and safely as possible,
that we mitigate any environmental and social impact of the
process, and that we improve our certainty of predicting the
behaviour of the material and material impacts. To do this we need
to understand coal as a material and the inherent variability of
its quality and behaviour as a source rock and host of coalbed gas.
One can change the technologies but not the geological ground
conditions or coal character of the targeted resource. The authors
have taken on this ambitious endeavour during their careers and
have attempted to capture their knowledge gained from first-hand
experience in countries around the world and comprehensive review
of published material, within this book. At least three generations
of knowledge are drawn upon here. Tim Moore was a student of both
Romeo Flores and his supervisor John Ferm, who was the "Warrior of
Gentleness" when it came to coal research, teaching, and
supervision. This book also reflects the broad and
multidisciplinary aspects of coal geology and coal science and
provides the tenets for one to understand different disciplines and
how they interact to form an integrated view of the
resource—technically, economically, and politically. Each chapter
takes the reader through different concepts, first setting the
scene by examining the status of coal and coalbed gas in a
carbon-conscious world, then looking at the science behind coal as
a source of gas and as a reservoir- in its own right. Further
reading leads to learning about geological settings and the
processes through time that led to present-day endowments around
the globe and this theme continues throughout the book with
detailed examples from different countries. Personally, I like the
emphasis on the depositional environments that lead to peat
accumulation and preservation—it’s all about the
ingredients—which leads nicely into the world of coal macerals
and minerals, and why they matter. Coalification and its role in
changing the chemistry and material properties of coal is covered
from a reservoir perspective, as is the role of biogenic processes.
These have produced some of the enormous gas resources we exploit
today and could also provide a future circular economy for
neo-biogenic gas. The role of groundwater in this past and
potentially future endeavour is presented, along with possible
adverse effects where there is unexpected communication with
regional and local aquifers and surface assets that detract from
environmental and social licence. In addition to describing the
geology and engineering technologies required to explore for,
access, and utilise these resources, the book also provides
insights into geostatistical and economic modelling for reserves
estimation and challenges as reservoirs become more geologically
and politically complex for extraction and alternatively, for
injection and carbon sequestration. The final chapters revisit and
integrate concepts presented in the book in order to examine global
gas production and the geographic shifts in production and research
that have occurred over the past decade(s). The also show how
government and the market play a role, and project future trends.
The authors provide discussion points for the outlook of coal as a
fuel feedstock in a carbon-constrained world and the ongoing search
for options and alternative non-fuel uses of coal while
highlighting the important role that coal and coalbed gas still
play during the transition period and beyond. There is much to
learn from this book, which is based on decades of observing and
interpreting patterns and trends in coal and coal-bearing basins.
There is a growing trend towards using machine learning and
artificial intelligence to find patterns in data and provide
solutions. I’d suggest that domain intelligence, such as that
provided in this book, is critical to supervising this process and
is required for understanding and validating the outputs upon which
many decisions are made and will continue to be made in the future.
So yes, we need this book and I invite you to read, learn, and form
your own ideas. If you find any gaps—write about them. Joan S.
Esterle Emeritus Professor Vale Chair of Coal Geosciences The
University of Queensland, AustraliaMay 2023
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