The adsorption of
CO2 by coal leads to changes in its
mechanical properties, particularly when considering supercritical
CO2 and water with supercritical CO2 adsorption.
This is strongly linked to the efficiency of CO2-enhanced
coalbed methane (CO2-ECBM) extraction and the safety of
CO2 geological storage. This study focuses on 3# coal from the Datong Mine in Gaoping City, Shanxi Province. The
high-rank coal’s mechanical properties, including the triaxial
compressive strength and elastic modulus, were examined under the
combined effects of CO2 injection pressure, CO2 injection time, and moisture content. The triaxial compressive strength
and elastic modulus of the coal showed a decrease following CO2 injection. Increasing the CO2 injection pressure,
prolonging the CO2 injection time, and increasing the moisture
content were favorable for coal softening. In particular, the triaxial
compressive strength and elastic modulus of the coal sample after
144 h of water and supercritical CO2 softening decreased
by 67.67 and 64.15%, respectively. Injecting CO2 into coal
changed its failure mode. The dry raw coal sample exhibited a brittle
shear failure mode, while the coal samples showed transitional shear
failure after injecting 6 MPa CO2 and 8 MPa CO2 and ductile nondilatant barreling failure after injecting water
and 8 MPa CO2 (with a moisture content of 3.02%). Moreover,
the cumulative acoustic emission energy of the coal samples followed
a similar trend to the decrease in mechanical properties under different
conditions. The physical and chemical interactions among coal, CO2, and water caused the softening of coal; these included the
generation of the swelling stress, the dissolution of minerals by
carbonate solutions, the reduction in surface energy of coal owing
to CO2 adsorption, and the extraction and plasticization
reactions of organic matter in coal. The research results are of great
significance for further understanding CO2-ECBM and CO2 geological sequestration.