Research and development progresses in the mitigation and utilization of coal bed methane

Coal bed methane (CBM) as an unconventional natural gas is a valuable energy resources; meanwhile the main content of CBM, methane, is also one of the most important gases that contribute towards inducing the greenhouse effect. The mitigation and utilization of coal bed methane, by reducing methane emissions and producing energy from recovered methane, can offer both opportunities to mitigate global climate change and to generate new sources of clean energy, which is therefore of great significance in both economic and environmental aspects and has received extensive attentions in recent years. In this paper, we attempt to make a review on the recent progresses of research and development in the mitigation and utilization of CBM. We focused mainly on the application of catalytic combustion in CBM mitigation and utilization, especially the deoxygenation of oxygen-bearing CBM, which is the key issue for methane concentration through pressure swing adsorption, as well as the mitigation and heat recovery of ventilation air methane (VAM) by using catalytic flow reversal reactor. Lastly, we would have an outlook on the possible technologies for the integrated utilization of CBM.