Hydraulic fracturing technology is widely utilized to
enhance gas
drainage efficiency in underground coal mines. Water plays a crucial
role in gas migration within coal after water is injected into the
coal seams. In this study, methane desorption behaviors of coal were
quantitatively evaluated under the influence of the injected water
content. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), mercury intrusion
porosimetry (MIP), and methane desorption experiments were combined
to reveal the influencing mechanism. XPS results show that sample
DLT also has the greatest content of the total oxygen-containing groups,
which is 99.67% and 176.55% higher than those of samples HJH and
BJG, respectively. MIP results indicate that sample DLT has the smallest
pore volume (0.0315 cm3/g) and pore surface area (2.79
m2/g), while sample BJG shows the largest pore parameters.
It is confirmed that the pore structures of anthracite are more complex
than those of bituminous coals. Methane desorption characteristics
of anthracite and bituminous coal are affected by injected water
to varying degrees. Gas desorption in bituminous B is the most sensitive
to the injected water content, and only 6% of the water content triggers
a 46.83% reduction of the methane desorption capacity, which is attributed
to the less accessible pore space and more hydrophilic oxygen-containing
groups. Due to the highly developed pore networks and less oxygen-containing
groups, CH4 molecules are replaced by H2O molecules
in anthracite at the lower injected water content (<6%), resulting
in the increase of the desorption capacity. The higher water content
(>6%) accounts for the pore-blocking effect, resulting in the abrupt
reduction of the gas desorption capacity.