Coal–water
interactions have a prominent impact
on the prediction
of coal mine gas disasters and coalbed methane extraction. The change
of characteristics in the microscopic pores of coal caused by the
existence of water is an important factor affecting the diffusion
and migration of gas in coal. The low-pressure nitrogen adsorption
experiments and gas desorption experiments of a low-rank coal with
different equilibrium moisture contents were conducted. The results
show that both the specific surface area and pore volume decrease
significantly as the moisture content increases, and the micropores
(pore diameter <10 nm) are most affected by the water adsorbed
by coal. In particular, for a water-equilibrated coal sample at 98%
relative humidity, micropores with pore sizes smaller than 4 nm as
determined by the density functional theory model almost disappear,
probably due to the blocking effects of water clusters and capillary
water. In this case, micropores with a diameter less than 10 nm still
contribute most of the specific surface area for gas adsorption in
coal. Furthermore, the fractal dimensions at relative pressures of
0–0.5 (D
1) and 0.5–1 (D
2) calculated by the Frenkel–Halsey–Hill
model indicate that when the moisture content is less than 4.74%, D
1 decreases rapidly, whereas D
2 shows a slight reduction as the moisture content increased.
In contrast, when the moisture content exceeds 4.74%, further increases
in the moisture content cause D
2 to decrease
significantly, while there is nearly no change for D
1. The correlation analyses show that the ultimate desorption
volume and initial desorption rate are closely related to the fractal
dimension D
1, while the desorption constant
(K
t) mainly depends on the fractal dimension D
2. Therefore, the gas desorption performances
of coal have a close association with the pore properties of coal
under water-containing conditions, which indicate that the fluctuation
in moisture content should be carefully considered in the evaluation
of gas diffusion and migration performances of in situ coal seams.