China making poor use of coal-mine gas
Workers at a coal mine in Shanxi. The region is struggling to make use of CMM. (PA)
The vast majority of methane emissions from China’s coal mines is being discharged into the atmosphere, wasting a potential source of gas while exacerbating the country’s greenhouse gas emissions.
Coal-mine methane (CMM) is extracted from coal mines to improve safety for miners. Recovered CMM volumes hit 13.6 billion cubic metres in 2015, but just 35% was utilised. CBM output from drilling unexposed coalbeds to tap methane in the seams reached 4.4 bcm in the same year, with 86% exploited.