Direct fitting measurement of gas content in coalbed and selection of reasonable sampling time

Abstract In this study, we selected 9 typical coal samples with different metamorphic grades as the study subjects, measured their initial 30-min gas desorption at 30 °C and different pressure using a self-developed gas adsorption/desorption device. Based on the characteristics of gas desorption from coal samples, we proposed a direct fitting method for measurement of gas content in coalbed, analyzed the effects of sampling time on the measurement results and determined the reasonable sampling time of coal samples with different metamorphic grades at different gas adsorption pressure at equilibrium. The results show that (1) the error of gas contents obtained using the direct fitting method relative to that obtained using indirect method is less than 10%, which meets the actual on-site requirements and verifies the feasibility of the direct fitting method; (2) when the relative error is controlled within ±10%, the reasonable sampling time of coal samples is linearly related to the gas adsorption pressure at equilibrium; (3) the reasonable sampling time of coal samples with the same metamorphic grade exhibits a shortening trend with increasing gas adsorption pressure at equilibrium; (4) for coal samples with similar gas adsorption pressure at equilibrium, the reasonable sampling time of coal samples displays a shortening trend with increasing metamorphic grade. Overall, the study provides a basis for improving the measurement accuracy of gas content in coalbed.