Abstract:

CBM development in China focuses on the high-rank coal, which is brittle and, during drilling, fracturing and drainage, easily crushed into coal fine. During the production, coal fine flows owing to the water flashing effect. As the water production declines, the coal fine will sediment and block the flowing channels, leading to the great reduction of coal permeability. When the coal fine enter the wellbore, it may jam the pump, resulting in accidents in production such as pump stuck or buried pump, and leading to the stop of production for well repair. In order to solve this problems, the generation mechanism, migration rules and current major controlling approaches of coal fine are summarized. And then, the mechanics model, hydraulic model and migration model are investigated respectively. According to the former studies, the coal fine migration process can be summarized as four stages: denudation, detachment, suspension and sedimentation. However, the geology conditions of coal seam in China are extremely complex and the structure changes effect is dramatic on coal basins. These factors enhance the problems of production and migration. Nevertheless, the coal fine controlling approach method primarily learns from the sanding control technology in oil reservoir and is still undeveloped for the CBM reservoirs.

Key words: CBM（coalbed methane）, coal fine, flowing laws, power-controlling approach, generation and migration