Capture and Use of Coal Mine Ventilation Air Methane
Project # 41620

Primary performing Organization:
CONSOL Energy

Ventilation air methane (VAM) — methane in the exhaust air from underground coal mines — is the largest source of coal mine methane and accounts for about half of the methane emitted from coal mines in the United States.  Methane is the second most significant non-water vapor greenhouse gas, and is more than 20 times more powerful than carbon dioxide (CO₂) in its global warming effect.  As a means of reducing a major greenhouse gas, this project intends to demonstrate the capture and use of VAM from underground coal mines by utilizing a single-bed, commercial-scale thermal flow reversal reactor (TFRR).  This technology will couple methane emission reduction with recovery of useful energy.  See photograph.  If successfully demonstrated, the TFRR system could be applied on a large scale and make a major contribution to reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

The TFRR technology employs the “regenerative heat-exchange” principle to a gas and a solid-bed of heat exchange material.  The VAM flows into and through the reactor in one direction, gaining temperature as heat is transferred from the material until the methane is oxidized.  The hot products of oxidation cool as they continue toward the far side of the bed.  At regular intervals, the flow is automatically reversed so that the part of the bed that was previously heated now heats the incoming gas.  Through the use of heat exchange, excess heat may be transferred for local heating needs or for the production of electric power.

The project objectives are to:

• Design an interface between the TFRR and the mine ventilation system that takes mine safety into account.
• Effectively and efficiently convert to CO₂ the low and variable concentration of methane in simulated coal mine ventilation air.
• Determine the cost of applying the technology.
• Determine the quantity of useful energy that can be economically used.

Contact:
Project Manager:  William O’Dowd, william.odowd@netl.doe.gov

 Related Papers and Publications:

• Coal Mine Ventilation Air Methane Fact Sheet (pdf)