Developing and calibrating a numerical model for microbially enhanced coal-bed methane production

Abstract

Experimental investigations demonstrate the potential of microbially enhanced coal-bed methane (MECBM) production on the lab scale. However, no in-depth mathematical and conceptual model including all sub-processes is reported in literature so far. With this study, we develop and present a conceptual food-web, included into a numerical model, that is calibrated and validated using batch experiments. The model is extended to model flow and transport features, test hypotheses, and compare against column experiments. Additionally, a sensitivity analysis of the model parameters as well as a preliminary study regarding operator-splitting techniques for the MECBM model are presented.