Exploration, Exploitation and Utilization of Coal and Gas Resources, 3rd Edition

Dear Colleagues,

Coal is the basis of global industry, and coalbed methane, as its accompanying mineral, is a clean, unconventional natural gas energy source. Not only does its mining and utilization effectively reduce coal mine gas disasters and improve coal mine production safety, it also increases the amount of new energy that is generated and reduces greenhouse gas emissions. It has threefold significance in safety, environmental protection, and the economy. Scientists have gained important knowledge on the clean utilization of coal and the development of unconventional natural gas, especially regarding the importance of measuring natural gas from coal (such as coalbed methane, shale gas, and tight sandstone gas) to mitigate global warming. Benefiting from previous research and scientific and technological progress, research on the physical properties of coal and unconventional natural gas reservoirs associated with coal mining has changed from the macrolevel to the micro- and ultra-microlevels, and exploration and development has changed from shallow to deep mining. The technologies involved are also very different, such as underground coal gasification technology, gas-injection-enhanced (CO₂, N₂) coalbed methane mining technology, liquid nitrogen freeze–thaw fracturing technology, shock-wave-enhanced permeability technology, and coal series combined-layer gas mining technology. All of these technologies will be important components of future unconventional natural gas exploration and development.

The specific purpose of this Special Issue is to (1) comprehensively review the research progress in the exploration, development, and utilization of coal-based natural gas; (2) solve the bottleneck problem encountered in deep coalbed methane exploration and development; and (3) overcome the obstacles of CO₂ geological storage and the efficient mining of coal-based gas.

Topics of interest for publication include, but are not limited to, the following:

• The enrichment, accumulation, and evolution of coal measure gas;
• The evaluation of coal measure gas reservoirs;
• Drainage performance and reservoir parameter variation;
• Gas injection (CO₂/N₂) stimulation technology;
• Optimal evaluation technologies for CO₂ geological storage.

Dr. Junjian Zhang
Prof. Dr. Dongdong Wang
Dr. Xiaoyang Zhang
Dr. Fangkai Quan
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Processes is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.