Utilization prospects for coal mine methane (CMM) in Kuzbass

Coal mine methane (CMM) is a considerable, relatively unused, resource in Russia. With the second largest proven coal reserves in the world, behind the USA, Russia has a tremendous coalbed methane (CBM) resource. The coal mine methane (CMM) emissions which are created from the CBM resource by way of coal mining yield a significant fraction of the anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions in the country. Developing CMM utilization projects will mitigate at least some of these emissions. Having evaluated the CMM resources at various underground coal mines in Kuzbass, it has been determined that it is economically viable to apply a variety of CMM utilization technologies in Russia. CMM use for electricity production was found to be quite capital intensive. Although economically viable, this option was the least attractive of the four technologies which were considered. Thermal energy production from boilers and delivering liquefied CMM at vehicle fueling stations were of intermediate potential. The most attractive option is the fueling of vehicles with compressed CMM. This required the lowest capital investment and had the highest paybacks, including a very rapid 2 1/2 year payback.