Investigation of the influence of coal swelling on permeability characteristics using natural brown coal and reconstituted brown coal specimens

Permeability has been identified as one of the foremost factors that determine the effectiveness of CO2 sequestration in deep coalbeds. Coal matrix swelling can cause a remarkable decrease in the permeability of a coalbed reservoir during the carbon dioxide injection process. The main aim of this paper is to correlate the diametrical swelling percentage with coal permeability. This experimental program further attempts to investigate the effect of gas flow properties in coal due to CO2 sorption. Furthermore, the applicability of using a laboratory-made reconstituted coal specimen for permeability testing has been comprehensively investigated.