Summary Owing to the low coal permeability coefficients and poor gas extraction efficiencies associated with the extraction of coal in the Huainan coal mining area, the aim of this study was to design, for the first time, a high‐pressure low‐temperature liquid CO2 (LCO2) pump for engineering tests with respect to the fracturing of coal seams and the improvement of CH4 recovery in China. To reasonably calculate the initiation pressure for the coal seam fracturing as well as the gas flow parameters, theoretical analysis with field testing were integrated in the design. In addition, considering the interim gas extraction standard, the gas extraction equivalent radius based on this standard was calculated. The test results revealed a maximum LCO2 pressure of 20.6 MPa, which surpasses the theoretical maximum pressure (19.5 MPa) required for the fracturing of coal seams. During the entire gas extraction process, the CO2 concentrations in boreholes K1 and K3 decrease exponentially with time, showing attenuation coefficients of 0.0205 and 0.0231, respectively. The attenuation coefficients of the three attenuation stages of the original coal seam gas flow rate were 0.0314, 0.2142, and 0.1198, which were higher than those corresponding to the test area. The CH4 concentration in boreholes K1 and K3 in the test area were both higher than that in the original coal seam, and the maximum CH4 flow rates in these boreholes were 1.31‐ and 1.72‐fold higher than that in the original coal seam, respectively. The comparative analysis of CH4 concentrations and flow rates indirectly showed an improvement in the permeability of the coal seam. Further, a quantitative equivalent gas extraction evaluation method based on LCO2 fracturing of coal seam and gas displacement was proposed. Furthermore, based on a comprehensive evaluation, the effective displacement radius caused by the LCO2 fracturing test was 9 m, with a displacement efficiency of 23.95%, and a displacement volume ratio of 0.21. This method offered the possibility of realizing the quantitative evaluation of the LCO2 injection amount and the gas extraction effect, and provides a basis for optimizing the LCO2 fracturing of coal seams as well as the gas extraction process.

To study the behavior of gas extraction from the protected layer by surface drilling, the common characteristics of gas extraction concentration and gas extraction quantity are summarized through the collection of key parameters of surface drilling and a combination of data and figures, with the background of 11−2 coal protection 13−1 coal in the Huainan mining area. The research results show that the flow of pressure relief gas extraction of the protected layer by surface drilling has three stages: a rising period, stable period, and decay period. When the extraction processes of multiple surface wells on the same working face are coordinated, the extraction flow is superimposed, and the extraction volume of surface drilling shows an increasing trend and fluctuates with the location of the drilling. The extraction flow rate before ground drilling is relatively small, and the extraction flow rate increases after ground drilling. This behavior is further confirmed by field observation of mining changes in the protective layer and the expansion and deformation of the protected layer. The periodic variation in the surface drilling and extraction quantity is affected primarily by the mining movement of the working face of the protective layer. Specifically, it is affected by factors such as the mining progress of the working face of the protective layer, mining height, degree of compacted goaf, degree of pressure relief of the protected layer, original gas content, and other measures taken to extract the protected layer.

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