During the production process of coalbed methane, the generation and migration of coal fines can obstruct fractures in coal reservoirs and reduce their permeability. In order to investigate the effects of coal fines migration on the porosity and permeability of coal reservoirs, we conducted core water flooding experiments, low-field nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), and low-temperature N2 adsorption experiments to study the variations in porosity and permeability of cataclastic coal during coal fines migration and the impact of coal fines migration on porosity and permeability. The experimental results reveal that the initial porosity ratio of cataclastic coal exhibits the characteristics of micropore > macropore > transitional pore > mesopore, with the pore types being predominantly fissured. The porosity of pores larger than 1000 nm and those larger than 10,000 nm exhibit consistent trends before and after water flooding, indicating that the blockage or unblocking of pores with radius larger than 10,000 nm by coal fines can also cause blockage or unblocking of some interconnected macropore. The early stage of flooding is the main period for coal fines migration and production in cataclastic coal, during which the mass concentration of coal fines production is higher and some macropores and fractures become blocked, resulting in a larger decrease in porosity. The higher the initial permeability of cataclastic coal samples with a larger end-face fracture density, the more similar the variations in porosity and permeability of pores larger than 10,000 nm during the flooding experiment, indicating that coal fines mainly block interconnected pores and fractures with radius larger than 10,000 nm through migration, thereby reducing permeability. This study provides a theoretical basis for the efficient production of coalbed methane.
© 2023 The Authors. Published by American Chemical Society.