An investigation of the permeability of large coal samples to the flow of gases of various sorption abilities

Authors: J. Żółcińska, L. Dyrga

Experimental investigations of the flows of gases of various sorption abilities through large samples (volume over 1000 cm3) cut from blocks of original rock material were performed.

The authors measured the magnitudes and the rates of saturation of coal samples for prc-dctcrmined values of input gas pressure (greater than 0.05 MPa and less than 0.2 MPa). For the experiments the sorbing gases encountered in mines (methane, carbon dioxide) were used.

For the purposes of comparison the flows of slightly sorbing gas (nitrogen) and non-sorbing gases (helium, argon) were also investigated. For the gases investigated the permeability of samples and the dependence of that permeability on gas pressure were determined.

The authors have attempted to find a correlation between sample permeability and sample saturation rate.