Enhanced coal bed methane recovery is a method of producing additional coalbed methane from a source rock, similar to enhanced oil recovery applied to oil fields.
Carbon dioxide (CO2) injected into a bituminous coal bed would occupy pore space and also adsorb onto the carbon in the coal at approximately twice the rate of methane (CH4), allowing for potential enhanced gas recovery.
A research project at ETH Zurich is studying the process of pumping carbon dioxide into unminable coal seams and recovering the methane that is subsequently displaced.
An extensive experimental investigation about the process of desorbing methane by adsorbing carbon dioxide in real coal samples was performed.
ECBM provides additional to CBM the advantage of long-term CO2 storage in the underground coal seams.