Environmental Earth Sciences (2020) 79:461

https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-020-09189-8

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Carbon emission assessment and control measures for coal mining

in China
Aitao Zhou1,2,3 · Jiaying Hu1 · Kai Wang1

Received: 2 April 2019 / Accepted: 11 September 2020 / Published online: 26 September 2020
© Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2020

Abstract
Coal is the most important primary energy in China. Although the proportion of coal in China’s total energy consumption
continues to decline it will still be the main energy in China for a long time in the future. As the largest contributor to China’s
greenhouse gas emissions, the energy conservation and emission reduction of coal industry will be the most critical step
for China to cope with global climate change and solve environmental problems at present and in the future for a long time.
The object of this study was coal mining in China. Life cycle assessment (LCA) was used to quantify carbon emissions in
whole process of coal mining, including mining, ventilation, drainage, power consumption, transportation, and post-mining
activities. The analysis result shows that the carbon emissions of producing tons of coal are 164.403 kg of carbon dioxide
equivalent per ton. The analysis further emphasizes that the methane contributes the most, accounting for 62.21% of the total
emissions, and plays an important role in the full life cycle of coal mining. Therefore, it presents a potential to mitigate the
environmental impact of coal mining, and its main task is to recover and recycle methane. Based on the technical level, this
study puts forward the low-carbon development countermeasures for coal enterprises. Then the technical system of methane
emission control and utilization is constructed from three aspects: coal-bed methane development, gas extraction, and utiliza-
tion and gas utilization. Finally, a trinity resource utilization system of coal mine gas is constructed. This study hopes to help
practitioners to realize the importance of coal mine methane to the coal mining process. If the efficient resource utilization
of methane be realized, it could not only save energy and reduce emissions in coal enterprises, but also promote the safety
production of coal mines and improve the economic benefits of coal mines. It is also of great significance for optimizing
China’s energy structure, realizing low-carbon transformation, and safeguarding China’s strategic energy security.

Keywords  Greenhouse gas emissions · Coal mining · Low-carbon development measures · China

Introduce
As the main energy source in China, coal is the main driving
force of China’s economic development. As shown in Fig. 1,
under the influence of relevant policies such as “Replacing
* Kai Wang
safety226@126.com
1
College of Emergency Management and Safety Engineering,
China University of Mining and Technology (Beijing),
Beijing 100083, China
2
State and Local Joint Engineering Laboratory for Gas
Drainage & Ground Control of Deep Mines, Henan
Polytechnic University, Jiaozuo, China
3
Department of Energy and Mineral Engineering, EMS
Energy Institute and G3 Center, Pennsylvania State
University, University Park, PA, USA
coal with gas" and "Replacing coal with electricity”, China’s
coal consumption and production began to decline gradu-
ally from 2013 to 2016. However, in the following three
years (2016–2018), coal consumption remained stable and
coal production even showed a rebound trend. In addition,
coal production still accounts for 70 percents of total energy
production in 2018. China is undergoing a transition from
relying on high-energy and high-coal consumption indus-
tries to energy-intensive and power-intensive industries. If
the expected increase in electricity demand cannot be met
by non-coal energy sources in the coming years, China’s
coal consumption is likely to continue to grow (Lin et al.
2018). Therefore, China’s coal-based energy structure will
not change for a long time to come.
While promoting China’s economic development, coal
has also caused serious damage to China’s ecological envi-
ronment. According to the latest 2014 global greenhouse

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Page 2 of 15 Environmental Earth Sciences (2020) 79:461

Fig. 1  Annual coal consump- Coal consumption Proportion of coal consumption

tion/production and its propor-
Coal production Proportion of coal production 100
tion in total energy consump-
tion/production of China 5
3.0x10

Proportion of coal consumption/production in

total energy consumption/production (%)
80

(ten thousand tons of standard coal)

2.5x105

Coal consumption/production
2.0x105 60

1.5x105
40

1.0x105

20
5.0x104

0.0 0
20 0 1
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
Year

gas emissions data released by the World Resources Institute paper. By establishing carbon emission model of coal enter-
(WRI), China’s total CO2 CO2 emissions are up to 12Gt, prises, this paper analyzes the source of carbon emissions
accounting for one-third of the world’s total emissions, while and its influence proportion, and obtains the key part of car-
the use of coal and its derivatives contributes more than 80% bon emissions reduction, which provides the optimal choice
of the total CO2 emissions (WRI 2018). Therefore, the coal- for the development strategy of Chinese coal enterprises.
based energy structure is the main source of China’s carbon Finally, based on the technical level, this study constructs
emissions, which requires that coal-related industries adjust low-carbon system for coal enterprises. This study hopes to
and optimize their structure and accelerate transformation. provide a reference for the low-carbon development of Chi-
While ensuring the development of national economy, China nese coal enterprises, whose low-carbon behavior is not only
will significantly reduce coal consumption to achieve the about the compensation and repair after environmental dam-
goal of emission reduction. And Chinese government will age, but also about the key points of low-carbon develop-
fulfilled promise of “peak carbon dioxide emissions around ment in the strategic deployment so that coal enterprises can
2030 and do its best to reach the peak earlier”(Bloch et al. implement low-carbon behavior and benefit from it in the
2012; NDRC 2016). Based on this, the paper chooses coal mining process. Finally, the goal of coal mine transforma-
mining as the research object to discuss the sustainable tion and upgrading, improvement of quality, and efficiency
development mode of coal enterprises. To be specific, coal will be achieved, making contributions to the development
enterprises need to achieve energy conservation, emission of China’s multi-polar energy pattern and low-carbon energy
reduction, and clean utilization of coal resources while structure (NEA 2017).
maintaining economic benefits, and meet China’s energy
needs, so as to achieve synchronous benefits for coal enter-
prises, ecological environment, and national economy under Method discussion
low-carbon and green development of coal enterprises.
The above content mainly introduces the dual role of coal Review of carbon emissions measurement methods
in China’s economic and social development. In considera-
tion of the energy conservation and emission reduction prob- The purpose of this study was to explore the mode to make
lems that need to be solved urgently in China’s coal industry, coal mining achieve high efficiency in energy conserva-
this paper chooses the mining process of coal enterprises as tion and emission reduction. It is necessary to measure
the research object, and where to take measures and how and evaluate the carbon emissions in the mining process,
to take measures are the two key points discussed in this obtaining the different degrees of influence of each link

13
Environmental Earth Sciences (2020) 79:461 Page 3 of 15  461
on carbon emissions, and finally take appropriate coun-
termeasures based on this. With the increasing severity of
global warming and climate change caused by greenhouse
gas emissions, a considerable number of carbon emission
assessment methods have been adopted in various fields.
Through field investigation and literature review, Lou et al.
(2017) used first-order attenuation method to analyze key
parameters such as waste composition, correction factor,
methane content, and oxidation factor, and finally estimated
the change trend of greenhouse gas emissions in Chinese
landfills over the years. Fugiel et al. (2017) established a
greenhouse gas emission assessment model for large oil and
gas companies based on the production process and corpo-
rate behavior and carried out a comparative test between the
assessment results and the greenhouse gas emission data
released by enterprises. Lv et al. (2019) used COPERT IV
model to analyze the emission parameters of various types of
vehicles and calculated the emissions of automobile exhaust
in Yunnan province, China. Finally, they used Monte Carlo
simulation to carry out the uncertainty analysis of estima-
tion. Tanha et al. (2019) proposed a monitoring method of
carbon emissions from gas combustion for a natural gas-
processing plant in Iran. By establishing a model to calcu-
late the composition and flow rate of combustion gas and
other parameters, the online monitoring of greenhouse gas
emissions from the treatment plant was realized, which was
in good agreement with the field measurement results. In
addition, many carbon emission studies have been conducted
in coal-related activities, among which the most common
method is the direct measurement method. For example,
Engle et al. (2011) evaluated the greenhouse gas emissions
of coal mine fires by directly measuring the gas emissions
from rock formations. However, direct measurement is often
not feasible and not suitable for provincial or national macro
analysis. On this basis, they also used the aviation infra-
red imaging technology to obtain the fire thermal data and
estimated the fire parameters after the algorithm analysis.
Finally, two methods were used to estimate and compare
greenhouse gas emissions from coal mine fires. Van Dijk
et al. (2011) simulated the spatial details of coal mine fire by
establishing a three-dimensional model containing geologi-
cal factors, mine characteristics, coal properties and other
information, and calculated the fire combustion volume to
estimate the greenhouse gas emissions of coal mine fire.
Jeon et al. (2010) compared the carbon dioxide emissions
of coal-fired power plants by combining the emission gas
sampling measurement method with the chemical compo-
sition analysis method of fuel coal. Aguirre-Villegas et al.
(2017) compiled a carbon emission life cycle list for each
link of the Indonesian coal supply chain to evaluate green-
house gas emissions and resource consumption at each link
and finally obtained the impact of the coal supply chain on
the environment). Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is the most
widely used assessment method in environmental impact
management at present. In this paper, the systematic analysis
method of LCA was adopted to conduct a relatively com-
prehensive and comprehensive analysis of carbon emissions
of coal mining enterprises in China. The output of China’s
underground coal mines accounts for more than 90% of the
annual coal output, so this paper took underground coal
mine as the research object and used LCA to calculate the
carbon emissions of each link of underground coal mine
to provide theoretical guidance for the implementation of
decision-making.
Applications of LCA
LCA is an important environmental management tool, which
can quantify the resource consumption and various emis-
sions in the whole process from raw materials to production,
use, and waste. It not only considers the environmental prob-
lems directly caused by the implementation of the activity,
but also analyzes its related and potential impact, so as to
more comprehensively evaluate the environmental conse-
quences caused by the research object, and finally provides
the basis for taking corresponding measures (Corrado et al.
2006).
The main objective of LCA is to reduce energy use and
environmental emissions in activities and improve their
socio-economic performance throughout their life cycle.
Therefore, LCA has become an important tool for resource
management and sustainable development assessment and
has been widely used in various fields. Yan et al. (2015)
used LCA to quantify greenhouse gas emissions from
three major food crops (rice, wheat, and corn) in eastern
China and evaluated the carbon footprint of China’s grain
crop production. Then the impacts of farm scale, agri-
cultural input, and grain yield on crop carbon footprint
were further analyzed in the paper. Alkatheri et al. (2018)
estimated the greenhouse gas emissions per kilowatt-hour
(kWh) in the whole process of UAE natural gas power
generation by using mathematical model and simulation
software. The greenhouse gas emission’s life cycle of the
whole process including natural gas extraction, collection,
transportation, processing and power generation, distri-
bution, transportation, and final use was established, and
compared with the greenhouse gas footprint of ultra-acidic
natural gas between conventional natural gas. Wang et al.
(2018) evaluated the environmental impact of coal min-
ing, washing, and transportation stages in the life cycle
of coal-fired power generation in China by using the full
life cycle method and calculated the resource consumption
cost and external environmental cost of coal-fired power
generation by using the cost accounting theory. Soni et al.
(2016) further proposed the life cycle cost method (LCC)
based on the traditional net present value (NPV) method.
13
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Page 4 of 15
In addition, the theory of real option analysis (ROA) was
applied to combine LCC and ROA in the field of energy
and power to solve the investment problem of coal infra-
structure projects. Finally, the paper evaluates the enter-
prise’s R&D cost, project operation structure, environmen-
tal degradation and other aspects. Burchart-Korol et al.
(2016) developed an environmental life cycle assessment
model suitable for coal mine operations, which in addition
to being applicable to greenhouse gas emission assess-
ment, can also be combined with ReCiPe method to assess
damage categories such as human health, ecosystem, and
resources. By evaluating the factors that directly or indi-
rectly affect the environment as well as those related to raw
materials and energy used in the production process, the
monitoring of human and mine environment was achieved.
The above research provides a reference for the life cycle
carbon emission assessment of coal mining in this paper.
In this study, a model of greenhouse gas emissions ( CO2
equivalent) from the cradle to the gate of coal mining was
established, and normalized CO2 equivalent emissions of
various emission activities were analyzed to obtain the full
life cycle greenhouse gas emissions of a ton of coal produc-
tion in underground mine coal mine in China. Through the
evaluation and interpretation of the results, it provides the
basis for the energy conservation and emission reduction
measures of coal mining enterprises. In this study, the LCA
research framework is defined in GB/T32151 which is put
under the administration of China technical committee on
carbon emission management of standardization adminis-
tration of China (SAC/TC548)) and adopted to evaluate the
Fig. 2  Carbon emission struc-
ture of coal mining
Carbon
emissions from
coal mining
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Environmental Earth Sciences (2020) 79:461
carbon emissions of coal mining life cycle chain (GAQSIQ
2017).
Analysis of carbon emissions source in coal mining
Determination of carbon emissions field
Each link of the coal mining process will produce corre-
sponding carbon emissions, so the carbon emissions of each
link should be measured comprehensively. In addition to the
analysis of the direct production link of coal, carbon emis-
sions of relevant links in the whole process of coal mining
(such as energy consumption of the staff, methane escaping
after mining activity, etc.) should also be taken into account.
All links that may generate carbon emissions in coal mining
are analyzed, as shown in Fig. 2.
Carbon emissions’ accounting boundaries
The primary task of life cycle analysis is to determine the
scope of system boundaries. Starting from the whole life
cycle of coal mining, this paper analyzes all activities related
to greenhouse gas emissions and divides all emission activi-
ties into three categories according to emissions methods:
energy consumption emissions, direct emissions, and coal
spontaneous combustion emissions. The energy consump-
tion emissions include three parts: power consumption of
equipment (including power consumption of direct pro-
duction equipment, power consumption of auxiliary facili-
ties, and power consumption of workers, etc.), raw coal
Emissions of Electrical power system
auxiliary
production Transport system
Ventilation and drainage system
Post-mineral activities
Emissions of coal Coalbed methane escape
Material consumption
Coal mining and excavation
Emissions of life Personnel energy consumption
Environmental Earth Sciences (2020) 79:461 Page 5 of 15  461
consumption (such as coal burning for boilers in mining
areas, power generation by coal burning, etc.), and other
consumption (including gasoline and diesel consumption
of transport vehicles, natural gas consumption, etc.). Direct
emissions include three parts: methane and carbon dioxide
emissions due to ventilation and pre-extraction of CBM
during mining and escape from post-mining activities. Coal
spontaneous combustion carbon emission is mainly caused
by coal and gangue accumulation (Xia et al. 2010).
The accounting boundaries of carbon emissions from coal
mining were shown in Fig. 3. The determination of carbon
emissions’ source is the primary task of this work. It requires
systematic analysis and classification of carbon emission
from mining. Then based on this, the corresponding param-
eters can be selected according to the contribution to carbon
emission to determine the carbon emission of each activity.
Construction of carbon emission measurement
model
Based on the above analysis, the accounting boundaries of
carbon emissions in coal mining are determined, and the
carbon emissions sources are divided into three parts: energy
consumption emissions, coal bed methane emissions, and
coal spontaneous combustion emissions. In this paper, we
build a carbon emission calculation model for coal min-
ing and divide coal mining activities into three aspects to
explore the carbon footprint in this process. The following
three parameters are selected to represent the corresponding
mining activities:
Extraction
system
Direct Post-mining
emissions activities
Ventilation
system
Subsidiary activities
Energy
Underground Auxiliary
consumption
mining production activities
emissions
Direct production
activities
Coal
spontaneous
combustion
Fig. 3  Carbon emission accounting boundary for coal production
Pe = P1 + P2 + P3 (1)
Pe = P1 + P2 + P3 , where P1,P2,P3 are the carbon emis-
sions of the above three parts, respectively, and the unit is
kgCO2 ∕t.
Calculation of carbon emissions from energy consumption
The greenhouse gas emissions during coal mining mainly
come from the electricity consumption of mining equipment
and auxiliary equipment, as well as the raw coal and natural
gas consumption in mining areas. According to statistics, the
comprehensive energy and power consumption of raw coal
production in large and medium-sized coal mines in China
are 11.6 kg standard coal/ton and 21.2 kWh/ton, respectively
(CNCA 2018). In recent years, large modern coal mines have
become the main body of coal production after the industrial
adjustment of reducing capacity in China. Among them, the
output of large and modern coal mines with an annual out-
put of 1.2 million tons or more accounts for more than 75%
of the country’s total energy consumption. Therefore, the
comprehensive energy and power consumption of raw coal
production of large and medium-sized coal mines in this
report can be regarded as the average level of coal in China
(CNCA 2018). The carbon emission generated by raw coal
consumption per unit of production should be calculated
based on the carbon emission coefficient, and the power con-
sumption should also include the standard coal consumption
parameters of power supply. Finally, normalized CO2 equiva-
lent can be used to uniformly represent the carbon emission.
The selection based on this parameter is as follows:
Methane recycle
Carbon dioxide and
methane escape emissions
The workers consume
water, energy, etc
Power supply, drainage, Fossil fuel combustion
transportation,etc emissions
Coal mining and
excavation
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461 
Page 6 of 15
P1i = qi umk, (2)
where P11 and P12 are the greenhouse gas emissions of pro-
ducing one ton of raw coal using electricity and raw coal,
respectively, and the unit is gCO2 ∕kWh ; q1 and q2 are the
comprehensive energy consumption (kg/t) and production
power consumption (kWh/t) of producing a ton of raw coal,
respectively; u is the CO2 emissions coefficient (t/tce) of a
ton of standard coal; u = 2.4567t CO2/tce (GAQSIQ 2017);
m is the power supply standard coal consumption g/kWh,
m = 309 g/kWh (CEC 2017); k is the normalized CO2 equiv-
alent coefficient, i.e. GWP value, the amount of N2 O pro-
duced by the combustion of fossil energy is very small, so it
is believed that all the greenhouse gases emitted by energy
consumption are CO2 , GWP = 1.
The normalized CO2 equivalent of a gas is the ton of the
gas multiplied by its Global Warming Potential (GWP),
and the GWP value of CO2 within 100 years is 1 (IPCC
2007), so the normalized CO2 equivalent of CO2 is equal to
itself. The calculation shows that the greenhouse gas emis-
sions caused by the power consumption of mining a ton
of raw coal (21.2kwh for mining a ton of coal) are about
16.093  kgCO2 , so the normalized CO2 equivalent emis-
sions are 16.093 kgCO2 ∕t ; the greenhouse gas emissions
caused by mining one ton of raw coal comprehensive energy
consumption (11.6 kg for mining a ton of coal) are about
28.498 kgCO2 , so the normalized CO2 equivalent emissions
are 28.498 kgCO2 ∕t.
P1 = P11 + P12 (3)
Therefore, the greenhouse gas emissions P1 caused by the
energy consumption of mining a ton of raw coal are: normal-
ized CO2 equivalent emissions 44.591 kg CO2 ∕t.
Calculation of carbon emissions from direct emissions
From the statistics, in recent years China’s annual emis-
sions of methane mining amount to 20 billion m3 , and raw
coal production is about 3.5 billion tons, so the calculated
tons of coal mining methane emissions are about 5.714 m3 .
NDRC(2011) recommended average CH4 emission factors
for China’s coal mine and post-mining activities: the key
coal mine and the local coal mine, respectively, are 8.37
m3 ∕t and 8.35 m3 ∕t (NDRC 2011). And Yu et al. (2008)
estimated that the average CO2 escaping emissions of China
coal mine in 2011 was 6.57 m3 ∕t raw coal production. (under
standard conditions). In comparison, the methane emissions
per ton of coal have fallen slightly in recent years, and it
is estimated that the carbon dioxide emissions per ton of
coal in recent years is 4.5 m3. Under standard conditions,
the weight of CH4 in each ton of coal mined is 4091.224 g,
and the weight of CO2 in each ton of coal mined is about
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Environmental Earth Sciences (2020) 79:461
8758.35 g. The calculation shows that the greenhouse gas
emissions of mining a ton of raw coal are about 8758.35 g
CO2 and 4091.224 g CH4 , the normalized CO2 equivalent
emissions of CH4 are about 102.28 kg CO2 ∕t , and the GWP
value of CH4 within 100 years is 25 (IPCC 2007).
Therefore, the greenhouse gas emissions P2 caused by
direct emissions of mining a ton of raw coal are: normalized
CO2 equivalent emissions 111.038 kg CO2 ∕t.
Calculation of coal carbon emissions from spontaneous
combustion
China is one of the countries most seriously affected by
spontaneous combustion of coal fields in the world. The
carbon emissions caused by spontaneous combustion of coal
in coal mining and storage cannot be ignored (Voigt et al.
2004). The annual coal loss caused by spontaneous com-
bustion of coal fields is about 20 million tons, accounting
for about 0.5% of the annual total mining output (Xu et al.
2018). In this stage, the conversion coefficient of raw coal
and standard coal shall be used to convert the spontaneous
raw coal to standard coal, and then the carbon emission shall
be calculated as follows:
P3 = ieu, (4)
where i is the loss amount due to spontaneous combustion
of coal for mining a ton of raw coal on average, i = 0.005t; e
is the conversion coefficient of raw coal and standard coal,
e = 0.7143; u is the CO2 emissions coefficient of a ton of
standard coal (t/tce), and u = 2.4567 tCO2 ∕tce (GAQSIQ
2017).
The calculation shows that the greenhouse gas emissions
caused by spontaneous combustion of mining a ton of raw
coal are about 8.774 kgCO2 , and the normalized CO2 equiva-
lent of CO2 is equal to itself, so the greenhouse gas emis-
sions P3 caused by spontaneous combustion of mining a ton
of raw coal are the following: normalized CO2 equivalent
emissions 8.774 kgCO2 ∕t.
Carbon emission assessment results
The result shows that the greenhouse gas emissions P of
mining a ton of raw coal are as follows: normalized CO2
equivalent emissions 164.403  kg CO2 ∕t . Among them,
direct carbon emission contributes the most, and meth-
ane emissions are the main part of direct carbon emission,
accounting for 62.21% of the total emissions, as shown in
Fig. 4 and Table 1. Therefore, methane emissions are the
largest contribution of carbon emissions during coal min-
ing, and if the methane of mining coal could be recycled,
it would improve the level of safety and economic benefits
while reducing emissions in mines (Bibler et  al. 1998).
Environmental Earth Sciences (2020) 79:461 Page 7 of 15  461

Comprehensive energy consumption the gas (Bibler et al.1998). Compared with other countries,
Power consumption China’s coal mine methane emission problem is more seri-
Direct emissions of CH4 ous. On the one hand, China is not only the world’s larg-
Direct emissions of CO2 est coal producer, but also produces more than 90% of the
62.21% Emissions of Spontaneous combustion country’s coal from underground mines, which emit far more
methane than open-pit mines. On the other hand, the geolog-
ical structure of coal mines in China is complex, and more
than 80% of coal seams are characterized by deformed coal,
low permeability, and high gas (Yuan 2016). In 2015, the
5.33% utilization rate of coal mine gas in China was only 35.3%,
5.34% much lower than 83% in the United States (NEA 2016).
9.79% Therefore, China faces challenge in coal mine gas recovery
17.33% and utilization. Moreover, with the increasing gap between
China’s natural gas supply and demand in recent years, as
Fig. 4  The proportion of carbon emission sources in coal mining shown in Fig. 5 (IIC 2018), the recycling of methane from
coal mines could supplement China’s scarce natural gas
reserves, and as an opportunity to mitigate greenhouse gas
Therefore, the coal mine emission reduction work is mainly emissions, which has a huge development prospect.
focused on the resource utilization of the methane, making To build a “abatement-recovery-utilization” system of
it the focus of reducing China’s greenhouse gas emissions coal mine methane, it is necessary to determine the pro-
from coal mining, which has positive significance for the duction and emission methods of the methane and to adopt
environmental demand and the benefit of coal enterprises.

3000 output
Technical measures 2800 consumption
2600
Natural gas output and consumption

2400
As early as 1993, Simpson et al. (1993) predicted that meth-
(100 million cubic meters)

2200
ane emissions from coal mining activities would increase by 2000
0.6% annually until 2025. Due to the seriousness of methane 1800
pollution to the environment and its own characteristics as a 1600
1400
clean energy, the control and utilization of coal mine meth-
1200
ane has been studied worldwide for a long time. Since the 1000
1960s, Britain’s coal mines have been recycling methane to 800
produce steam for mining facilities and selling it as methane 600
to homes and industrial users. In 1977, the methane recov- 400
200
ered from Ayr coal mine was used for power generation by
0
gas turbine system. In the 1990s, the United States used the 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016 2018
drainage system to collect gas for sale, while Poland and the Year
Czech Republic used the gas for mine boilers, nearby steel
mills, and thermal power plants, etc., and the coal-producing Fig. 5  Natural gas output and consumption in China from 1998 to
countries worldwide began to extensively extract and recycle 2018

Table 1  Carbon emission assessment results

Type of Carbon emissions in coal mining The source of carbon emissions Emissions of CO2 equiva-
lent (kg/t)

Energy consumption Comprehensive energy consumption 16.093 44.591

Power consumption 28.498
Coal bed methane emissions Direct emissions of CH4 102.28 111.038
Direct emissions of CO2 8.75835
Coal spontaneous combustion emissions Emissions of Spontaneous combustion 8.774 8.774
Total (kg/t) 164.403

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Page 8 of 15 Environmental Earth Sciences (2020) 79:461

corresponding technical measures Ji et al. (2017) divided it
into two parts according to the mining sequence: pre-mining
gas drainage and post-mining gas release. Then, an evalua-
tion method of pre-drainage gas quantity is established, and
the influence factors of mining activities are cited to estimate
the gas emissions in coal mines. Ju et al. (2016) believed
that there were three sources of methane release: excavation
roadway, working face, and goaf. There are two sources in
excavation roadway and working face: surrounding rock and
coal block, and the goaf has three sources: residual raw coal,
adjacent coal seam, and surrounding rock, on which the gas
emissions of the coal mine can be determined. In view of
the effectiveness and practicability of gas control and utili-
zation technologies, the definition of methane release from
coal mines should take into account both comprehensive
and technical feasibility. This paper decided to construct the
system according to the following classification (Singh et al.
2016):
1. Coal bed methane (CBM): C-BM mining technology.
2. Coal mine methane (CMM): CMM extraction technol-
ogy.
3. Ventilation Air Methane (VAM): Utilization technology
of dirty air methane.
4. Abandoned mine methane (A-MM): Development of
abandoned mine CBM.
CBM and AMM mining technology
Methane extraction principle and process
CBM mining includes coal bed methane (CBM) and aban-
doned mine methane (AMM). The most important charac-
teristic of CBM that is different from conventional natural
gas is that CBM is mainly stored in the coal seam in the
adsorption state. Therefore, the prerequisite of CBM mining
technology is decompression and desorption, and its output
mechanism is shown in Fig. 6.
From drainage and pressure reduction to the end of gas
extraction, CBM mining can be divided into three processes:
1. Stage of single-phase flow
The stage at the initial stage of CBM mining, CBM is still
in the adsorption stage before the reservoir pressure has been

Distance from the wellbore

Initial formation pressure

Critical desorption pressure

Formation pressure

State three State two State one

Two-phase flow state Unsaturated flow state One-phase flow state

Exist in two phases (water and gas) Exist in a single

ph ase (water)
Two-phase flow Single-phase flow
1.0
permeability

Relative permeability to water

Relative

Relative permeability to gas

0.0

Fig. 6  Schematic diagram of coal seam gas output mechanism

13
Environmental Earth Sciences (2020) 79:461 Page 9 of 15  461

reduced to the critical desorption pressure, and only the water 3. Stage of pure gas production
phase flows in one direction in this stage. In the later stage of mining, the water saturation in the
qw fluid is equal to the critical water saturation, and the main
= mx + b (5) fluid is coal seam gas.
pi − pwf
Assuming that under the conditions of circular closed
boundary gas reservoir and fixed production of gas well,
−1 the quasi-steady state flow material balance equation at
m= (6)
NW bpss this stage is as follows:
qg
Q ( ) = mx + b (12)
x= w
( )
(7) m pi − m pwf
Δpct

−1
1 m= (13)
b= (8) Gb,pss
bpss

( ) 2qg t∗ca pi
Bw 𝜇w re 3 x= [ ( ) (14)
bpss = ln − , (9) m pi − m pwf × μg c∗t Z∗ i
( )] ( )
543Kh rw 4

where pi is the original formation stress, MPa; pwf is bottom ( )

1 B 𝜇 r 3
hole pressure MPa; K is the formation permeability, μm2 ; h b= , bpss = w w ln e − (15)
bpss 543Kh rw 4
is the formation thickness, m3 ; Qw is the cumulative water
rate, m3 ; ct is the sum of formation compressibility and fluid
The original reserves of CBM and the permeability of
compressibility.
coal seam can be determined using the flow material bal-
2. Stage of gas–water two-phase flow
ance equation and geological parameters, and the perme-
When the pressure of the coal seam decreases, the methane
ability of coal seam is a key factor in the development of
in the matrix pores of the local reservoir is desorbed and mixed
CBM. Table 2 shows the characteristics of CBM reservoirs
with the water in the fracture to form a gas–water two-phase
in China, the United States, and Australia (Wang et al.
flow. Under the condition of quasi-steady flow at this stage, the
2017).
flow material balance equation is:
The permeability of coal seam in China is four orders
qg
[ ∗( )
m pi −m∗ pR
( )] of magnitude lower than that of San Juan coal field in
[ ( ) ( )] = mG [ ( ) ( )] + b (10) the United States and three orders of magnitude lower
m∗ pi −m∗ pwf m∗ pi −m∗ pwf than that of Bowen coal field in Australia, excluding the
Jincheng coal field. And the gas content in China’s coal
p pKrg (p) fields is higher than that in the United States and Australia.
∫
m∗ (p) = 2 dp (11) Therefore, although China has huge reserves of CBM,
pb 𝜇g Z
the low permeability of coal seam makes it much more

Table 2  Characteristics of Coal field Coal seam character

coalbed methane reservoirs
Permeability (mD) Gas pressure (MPa) Content of
gas ( m3 ∕t)

Huainan 0.00028 6.5 10–40

Huaibei 0.00121 5.1 10–35
Yangquan 0.00037 2.3 10–40
Zhengzhou 0.00118 2.6 8–20
Shenyang 0.00035 8.3 10–35
Yaojie 0.00244 7.3 10–30
Jincheng 1.55 1.25 5–50
San Juan (The United States) 10–100 – 9–19
Bowen (Australia) 1–10 – 8–17

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Page 10 of 15 Environmental Earth Sciences (2020) 79:461

difficult to exploit CBM in China. Therefore, solving this 𝜕C

problem has become the key to increase the production of
CBM Wells in China.
Stimulation techniques of CBM Wells
Hydraulic fracturing is a stimulation technique widely used
in conventional oil and gas fields. The main principle of
hydraulic fracturing (hydraulic fracturing) is to maintain
high permeability of coal seams by injecting fracturing fluid
and large particles of solid proppant to cause incomplete
fracture closure in coal seams. At present, more than 90% of
coal seams in the United States are transformed by hydraulic
fracturing. After fracturing, the number and size of fractures
in the coal seam are greatly increased, which increases the
pressure drop area around the borehole and ensures the rapid
and relatively lasting release of gas in a large area of coal
seam.
CBM injection is also suitable for the development of low
permeability CBM fields. In field tests, N2 and CO2 are usu-
ally injected into the reservoir, which can directly increase
the flow energy in the coal seam and change the void char-
acteristics of the coal seam to improve the permeability (Wu
et al. 2013). Moreover, injected gas can compete with meth-
ane to adsorb in coal seam and promote methane desorption,
thus improving the extraction efficiency of CBM. Field test
analysis shows that CO2 injection can increase methane pro-
duction by 140% compared with direct extraction of CBM
(Das et al. 2017).
Therefore, in addition to pumping and discharging con-
fined water from coal seam to release the adsorbed gas,
China should also vigorously develop and popularize the
technology of increasing production of CBM and improve
the productivity of CBM Wells by effectively improving the
permeability of coal seam or injecting gas displacement.
CMM extraction technology
The characteristic of gas in coal mine lies in the co-storage
of coal and gas and their mutual influence. Under high-
pressure conditions, gas extraction is often difficult due to
the adsorption of coal seam and low permeability, and the
presence of gas may also cause coal and gas outburst or gas
explosion. In the process of gas extraction, the movement
modes of gas from coal seam to borehole includes desorp-
tion, diffusion and seepage (Zhou et al. 2019).
Principle of gas diffusion
J = −Df , (16)
𝜕X
where Kn is the Knudsen number representing the relative
size of void diameter and the average free path of molecu-
lar motion; J is the gas diffusion rate per unit area, kg/s
­m2; 𝜕C∕𝜕X is the concentration gradient along the diffusion
direction; Df is Fick diffusion coefficient, m2 ∕s ; C is the
concentration of the gas, kg∕m2.
Effective Fick diffusion coefficient:
Df 𝜃
Dfe = , (17)
𝜏
where 𝜃 is the effective surface porosity; 𝜏 is the tortuous
factor.
2. Knudsen diffusion condition is as follows: when
Kn ≪ 0.1,
√
2 8RT
Dk = r , (18)
3 𝜋M
where Dk is Knudsen diffusion coefficient; r is the average
radius of the void, m; R is the universal gas constant; T is
the absolute temperature, K; M is the molecular weight of
the gas.
Considering factors such as effective surface porosity and
tortuous factor, the effective Knudsen diffusion coefficient
is as follows:
√
8𝜃 2 2RT
Dke = , (19)
3𝜏s 𝜌 𝜋M
where ρ is the density of coal, kg∕m3.
3. Transitional diffusion condition is as follows:
0.1 < Kn < 10 . The diffusion process is restricted by the
above two diffusion mechanisms, and the effective diffusion
coefficient under constant pressure is related to Fick diffu-
sion coefficient and Knudsen diffusion coefficient as follows:
1 1 1
= + (20)
Dpe Dfe Dke
Linear seepage theory of coal seam gas
The reason for gas seepage in coal is the existence of pres-
sure difference. For one-dimensional single-phase porous
coal seam, Darcy’s law is described as (Wang et al. 2012)
follows:

The theory of coal seam gas diffusion mainly includes Fick kx ( 𝜕P 𝜕D

)
vx = − − 𝜌gx , (21)
diffusion, Knudsen diffusion, and Transitional diffusion. 𝜇 𝜕x 𝜕x
1. Fick diffusion condition is as follows: when Kn ≫ 10 ,
and the random motion of the gas molecules occurs.

13
Environmental Earth Sciences (2020) 79:461 Page 11 of 15  461
where vx is the volume flux in this direction, kx is the per-
meability of the coal seam, 𝜇 is the fluid viscosity, and gx
is the pressure drop increment. Permeability is sensitive to
the effective stress caused by geological structure and the
shrinkage or expansion of coal matrix caused by methane
desorption or adsorption.
Optimization of gas extraction technology
Gas extraction drilling, whether horizontal, vertical or bed-
ding or penetra-ting, needs to directly communicate with
the gas source and transport through the gas migration path.
Drilling depth, extraction time, and extraction pressure
directly affect the gas extraction effect. At present, under
severe conditions such as deep mining, high stress, low per-
meability, and complex geological conditions in China’s
coal mines, low permeability of coal seam directly leads
to slow gas extraction speed, low efficiency, and high cost,
and seriously affects the gas extraction effect (ECE 2010).
Whether the gas source can be communicated accurately and
effectively is of great importance to gas extraction. There-
fore, to achieve reasonable and efficient gas extraction, it
is necessary to develop relevant technologies to ensure the
accuracy of drilling targets and improve the permeability
of coal seam.
1. Directional long-distance drilling technology
Due to the complexity of geological conditions in China’s
coal mines and the increase of mining depth and intensity,
the traditional special roadway technology and extensive
short drilling technology are no longer applicable. The
directional long-distance drilling techno-logy can realize
the random directional measurement and precisely control
the drilling track by using the directional long drilling rig,
which has the advantages of high drilling efficiency and cen-
tralized extraction. It greatly increases the effective length
of gas extraction and makes the borehole extend along the
seam fracture zone. The effective utilization rate of borehole
is greatly improved, and the high efficiency of gas extraction
is guaranteed.
2. Pressure relief and anti-reflection technology
Most coal seams in China belong to low-permeability
coal seams, and it is much more difficult to pre-extract gas
from low-permeability coal seams. The high cost and heavy
workload of simply drilling more boreholes and extend-
ing extraction time cannot realize efficient gas extraction.
The following technologies could be adopted to increase
the permeability of the coal seam. Common pressure relief
and anti-reflection extraction methods include the follow-
ing: hydraulic fracturing, hydraulic fracturing, high-pressure
water jet drilling, loose blasting, pre-splitting blasting, and
cross-drilling anti-reflection, etc., which through improv-
ing the permeability of coal seam to achieve efficient gas
extraction.
Construction of "spatial–temporal coupling and stereo
optimization" gas extraction system
There are many mines in China with a high gas content mak-
ing it difficult to extract the coal. The existing extraction
technology has single effect and low efficiency, so it is nec-
essary to carry out systematic and efficient gas extraction in
coal mines. In this paper, the "spatial–temporal coupling and
stereo optimization" gas extraction scheme is proposed, as
shown in Fig. 7 (Yuan 2016; Hu et al. 2017), which has the
following characteristics:
1. Coordination and cooperation of "coal mining–tun-
neling–extraction", which requires appropriate arrange-
ment of gas extraction operation, and mining technol-
ogy, requires that gas extraction operation does not
affect mining activities, and at the same time gas disaster
should be solved to improve mining efficiency.
2. "Working face–goaf–adjacent coalseam" all-around
extraction. In the process of coal mine gas extraction, it
is necessary to ensure the effective gas extraction in all
directions in the mine so as to prevent and control the
gas disaster. Especially under the condition of coal seam
group mining, the pressure relief gas in the adjacent coal
seam will surge to the mining seam through the inter-
layer cracks, so the gas control in the adjacent coal seam
is also of great importance (Xiaocun et al. 2018).
3. "Downhole and surface" three-dimensional extraction.
China’s high-gas mines mainly use underground drain-
age, while surface drainage of gas will make the coordi-
nated exploitation of coal and CBM possible. Multiple
exploitation methods are used to combine mining above
and below the well to realize" protect coal mining by
coal mining, promote gas mining by coal mining" (Xie
et al. 2014).
4. Anti-reflection and pressure relief extraction. It is nec-
essary to make extensive use of hydraulic fracturing,
hydraulic fracturing, high-pressure water jet drilling,
loose blasting, pre-splitting blasting, cross-drilling anti-
reflection, and other technologies to effectively improve
the permeability of coal seam, realize efficient and opti-
mized extraction of gas, and provide safety guarantee for
high-yield and high-efficiency of coal mine.
The significance of "spatial–temporal coupling and stereo
optimization" lies in fully coordinating the spatial–tempo-
ral relationship between gas extraction and mining activi-
ties, making full use of favorable conditions such as coal
seam mining and pressure relief, so as to achieve dynamic
cooperation between gas extraction and mining activities.
The utilization of gas can effectively prevent and control the
occurrence of gas disasters so that gas extraction and mining
activities complement and promote each other. At the same
13
461 
Page 12 of 15 Environmental Earth Sciences (2020) 79:461

Adjacent Upper adjacent layer pressure relief Drilling and drainage, drainage of
layer and extraction special roadway roof
Lower adjacent layer pressure relief Borehole extraction
and extraction
Ground boreholes are drilled to extract upper
and lower adjacent layers of gas
Roadway pre-extraction of seam gas
Before
mining Drill holes for pre-extraction of seam gas
Advance drilling of coal roadway for
Before pre-extraction of gas
excavation First extraction and then excavation in the Pressure relief and
Working coal roadway Optimized
seam Drilling from roadway to the front of technology
anti-reflection
working face while mining coal technology
In mining
Drilling through layers to the layers without
mining in the layered mining
Gas extraction by inclined boreholes on the
In side of the roadway
excavation Gas extraction by side hole drilling combined
with advance drilling
After Caving zone drilling, buried pipe
mining Gas extraction in semi-closed goaf extraction,pump station extraction
Gas extraction in fully enclosed goaf Underground drilling, surface drilling,
Goaf intubation extraction

Fig. 7  “Spatial–temporal coupling and stereo optimization.” gas extraction system

time, it is of great significance to promote coal mine safety, Gas concentration

low carbon production and improve coal mine production
benefit to carry on the three-dimensional extraction.
Utilization of gas extraction
The gas extracted underground is medium- and high-con-
centration gas with a concentration of 30% ~ 80%. The rea-
sonable technical application of different concentrations of
gas can not only improve the utilization rate, but also ensure
the safe use of gas. In general, gas with a concentration of
30% ~ 40% can be directly used as civil fuel. Gas with a
concentration of 30% ~ 56% can be used for power genera-
tion, and > 40% can be used for industrial fuels and chemical
raw materials.
Utilization technology of dirty air
According to the data provided by coal mine methane emis-
sion control and utilization technology enterprises in 2010
(Wang 2013; Zhou et al. 2018), although the concentration
of methane in China’s coal mine exhaust is extremely low
(< 1%), its total amount is extremely large, which is the main
source of methane emissions from coal mines. The distri-
bution diagram of methane emission concentration in coal
mines in 2010 is shown in Fig. 8, and it is of great signifi-
cance to study how to utilize dirty air methane.
There are three kinds of auxiliary utilization technologies,
main utilization technologies and other technologies for the
ultra-low concentration of dirty air methane. In the auxiliary
use technology, dirty air methane is used as an auxiliary
<1%
1%-9%
9%-30%
7% 1% 30%-80%
10% >80%
6%
76%
Fig. 8  Distribution map of methane emission concentration in coal
mine
fuel for gas turbines, internal combustion engines, and coal-
fired power stations. Dirty air serves in the role of oxygen
in combustion system combined with the main fuel to pro-
duce energy. In the main utilization of technologies, thermal
countercurrent oxidation technology and thermal counter-
current catalytic oxidation technology are mainly used to
increase the concentration of dirty air methane to about 1%.
Then the treated dirty air methane is used as the main fuel
to generate heat, which is often used in heat flow reversal
reactors, catalytic flow reversal reactors, regenerative gas
turbines, dilute combustion catalytic turbines, and catalytic
monolithic reactors. Among the other technologies, energy
development corporation (ELD) has developed a regenera-
tive gas turbine that can burn a mixture of methane gas as

13
Environmental Earth Sciences (2020) 79:461 Page 13 of 15  461
low as 1.6 percent. And Ingersoll Rand Company of the
United States has developed a micro-turbine with catalytic
combustion capacity, which can generate electricity from 1%
of spent wind methane (Singh et al. 2015). In Moonidih coal
mine in India, the dirty air methane is sent to rotary kiln for
combustion, and the generated hot gas is fed to waste heat
recovery boiler, which then generates steam for steam tur-
bine generator to generate electricity (Singh et al. 2016). In
addition, as the latest technologies such as ultra-low concen-
tration methane power station boiler mixed firing and low-
concentration psa technique, dirty air methane has a great
application prospect, which needs to be further developed.
Coal mine has long been the engine of China’s economic
and industrial development, but it also has long been criti-
cized for its environmental problems it caused. The technol-
ogies mentioned above can capture and utilize the methane
released in different forms in coal mining. Direct emission of
methane is the main component of carbon emission in coal
mining. Therefore, the resource utilization of this part of
methane is the key to reduce carbon emission in coal mining
process. Meanwhile, the methane produced can also be used
as a clean energy to replace coal. The application of these
technologies can achieve efficient carbon emission control
without affecting China’s energy supply. Most importantly,
it can also ensure that coal mining enterprises can obtain
certain economic benefits, which enables coal mining enter-
prises to actively and efficiently respond to emission reduc-
tion policies and carry out development transformation,
instead of passively and reluctantly implementing policies.
The development of methane exploitation and utilization
technology in coal mines undoubtedly plays a positive role
in China’s carbon emission control and energy structure
optimization, and it also plays a significant exemplary for
the green transformation of other industries in China.
Conclusion
Coal is historically China’s main energy source and will be
so for years to come. Based on this, the paper first describes
the key position of coal industry in China’s implementa-
tion of emission reduction and then discusses the two parts
of determining carbon emission sources and how to con-
trol carbon emissions. Taking coal mining as the research
object, the greenhouse gas emission in underground mining
in China is calculated by life cycle assessment method, and
the direct emission of methane is determined as the main
source of carbon emission in coal mining. Aiming at this
problem, this paper puts forward some measures for methane
emission reduction and resource utilization, and constructs a
coal mine carbon emission control system from the technical
level. The calculation of carbon emission sources provides a
reliable reference and a core problem to be solved urgently
for the adoption of carbon emission control measures. Tak-
ing the largest carbon emission source (direct emission of
methane) in the process of coal mining as the purpose of
carbon emission control, we can adopt more targeted tech-
nologies to make the implementation of carbon emission
measures more efficient. Finally, the application of technol-
ogy makes it possible to solve the core problem, which is
also the ultimate goal of this paper. The research results of
this paper are as follows:
1. China is the country with the highest carbon emissions
in the world, and the use of coal and its derivatives con-
tributes more than 80% of total CO2 emissions. Although
the proportion of China’s coal consumption has con-
tinued to decline, the amount of coal consumption has
rebounded since 2017. Given the power demand, eco-
nomic growth and other factors, coal consumption is
likely to grow further, so China will continue to face
environmental pressure from the coal industry, which is
crucial for energy conservation and emission reduction.
2. As an important tool for environmental impact inves-
tigation and evaluation, this study takes the coal min-
ing process as the research object and analyzes the life
cycle carbon emission sources of China’s underground
coal mining by using LCA. Then the greenhouse gas
emissions of the whole life cycle of coal production are
quantified, and the results are evaluated and explained.
According to the analysis, the carbon emission per ton
of coal mined is 164.403 kg of carbon dioxide equivalent
per ton, and the emission’s contribution rate of coal-
bed methane can reach 62.21%. As a greenhouse gas,
methane itself is a clean energy source. Therefore, to
effectively reduce the carbon emissions of coal mining,
it is suggested to focus on the resource utilization of coal
mine methane.
3. Based on the technical level, in view of the character-
istics of deep mining, low permeability and high gas
in China’s coal mines, and from the aspects of CBM
development, gas drainage and utilization of dirty air
methane, the ideas of stimulation techniques of CBM
Wells, "spatial–temporal coupling and stereo optimiza-
tion" gas extraction system and utilization technology
of dirty air were put forward. A system of systematic,
clean, and efficient exploitation of methane in coal mine
has been formed, which makes the exploitation of meth-
ane complement and promote the normal production of
coal mine.
Acknowledgements  Financially supported by the State Key Research
Development Program of China (Grant No. 2018YFC0808101),
National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51774292,
51874314, 51604278, 51804312), the Research Fund of State and
Local Joint Engineering Laboratory for Gas Drainage & Ground
13
461 
Page 14 of 15
Control of Deep Mines (Henan Polytechnic University), the Yue Qi
Distinguished Scholar Pro-ject, China University of Mining & Tech-
nology, Beijing, the Yue Qi Young Scholar Project, China University
of Mining &Technology, Beijing.
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