FACULTY OF ENGINEERING

School of Petroleum Engineering

PTRL 6032
COAL SEAM GAS
ENGINEERING

COURSE OUTLINE
SESSION 2, 2016
Contents

TEACHING STAFF ............................................................... 3

ASSESSMENT ..................................................................... 4

COURSE SCHEDULE .......................................................... 5

CLASS TIMES AND LOCATIONS ....................................... 7

RESOURCES FOR STUDENTS .......................................... 7

COURSE EVALUATION AND DEVELOPMENT ................. 8

ACADEMIC HONESTY AND PLAGIARISM ........................ 8

ADMINISTRATIVE MATTERS ........................................... 11

TEACHING STAFF

Course Coordinator: Prof. Sheik Rahman

School of Petroleum Engineering, Tyree Energy Building,
email: sheik.rahman@unsw.edu.au

Teaching Assistant: Hamed Lamei Ramandi

School of Petroleum Engineering, Tyree Energy Building,
email: h.lameiramandi@unsw.edu.au
COURSE DETAILS
Unit of Credit: 6 Hours per week: Distance Mode

Course Objectives
To provide students a thorough understanding of aspects of
coal seam gas engineering.

ASSESSMENT
Feedback will be given for each component of the
assessment, other than exams.
Late submissions will be accepted with 5 % penalty for
each day.

Task Due date Week due Marks

Assignment -1 TBA 5 10

Assignment -2 TBA 5 10

Assignment -3 (Fekete All through

10 15
CBM Application) the session

Quiz & Discussions TBA 10

Final exam EXAM PERIOD 55

Total 100

It is strongly recommended that you check the course

eLearning (Moodle) site DAILY so as not to miss important
announcements concerning assignments, marks, events and
other related matters.
COURSE SCHEDULE
Subject to possible adjustment depending on progress made
during semester.

1. Introduction and fundamentals of CSG:

Coal seam gas Introduction
Coal Ranking
Coal Porosity & Density
Composition of coal gas and its properties

2. Gas Adsorption and desorption Geological Aspects and

reservoir engineering:
Coal Aging, deposition & distribution
Origins of Coal gas
Logging

3. Volumetrics:
Methods of estimating gas content
Lost Gas
Residual gas
USBM Method
Smith and Williams
Curve fit methods
Mass normalized gas contents and source of error
Mud-log gas content

4. Gas sorption:
Langmuirs equation
Effect of Ash & moisture on sorption
Dry ash free (Daff) and Dry mineral matter free (Dmmf)
Isotherms
Effect of ranking, temperature on sorption
Isotherm characterization
Sorption Isotherms for CO2, N and other gases
Multicomponent Langmuir Isotherms

5. Permeability
Absolute Coal permeability
 Stress dependent Permeability
Relative permeability
Matrix Shrinkage

6. Well Testing
Well Tests
i. Injection & Falloff test
ii. Drillstem Test
iii. Tank Test
iv. Slug Test
v. Fracture Injection Test
vi. Drawdown and buildup Test
vii. Interference Test
viii. Micropilot Injectivity test

7. Material Balance
MBE
King Method
Modified King Method
Jensen & Smith Method
Recovery Factor
MBE for Undersaturated coals and multicomponent gases

8. Fluid Flow
Gas flow
Desorption & Darcy Flow
Water Production

9. Depletion of Fluids
Tank-type Model
Production from Dry Coal
Depletion of undersaturated Coals
Decline Curve Analysis
CLASS TIMES AND LOCATIONS
Type of Class Day of Class Time Room/Location
Distance mode No Classes

RESOURCES FOR STUDENTS

Moodle eLearning site
Moodle is the web-based learning environment at UNSW.
Course notes will be made available on the Moodle
eLearning course site. The Moodle eLearning site for this
course is the medium for all communications to students.
Supplemental reading material will also be provided through
the Moodle eLearning site.

Textbooks/Recommended Reading
Coalbed methane: principles and practice by Rudy E. Rogers

Fundamentals of Coalbed Methane Reservoir Engineering by Seidle, John

Coal and coalbed gas: fueling the future by Romeo M. Flores

For additional reading:

Petroleum Production Systems by M. Economides et al,
Fundamentals of Reservoir Engineering by L. Dake
Petroleum Engineering Handbook Volume IV J.D. Clegg - Editor
Production Operations by Allen and Roberts

More reading materials will be uploaded on Moodle throughout the course. It is

strongly recommended that you check Moodle daily.

Discipline-specific WWW Resources

www.appea.com.au (The Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration
Association)

www.pesa.com.au (The Petroleum Exploration Society of Australia)

www.spe.org (Society of Petroleum Engineers)

www.api.org (American Petroleum Institute For Petroleum Standards)

Students seeking resources can also obtain assistance from the UNSW Library.
One starting point for assistance is:
info.library.unsw.edu.au/web/services/services.html

COURSE EVALUATION AND DEVELOPMENT

The presentation of this course is under continual
improvement, so your feedback is highly appreciated. We
want your suggestions of what is good and should be
retained, and what is not so good and should be improved
(with ideas on how to do it). In addition to the standard
UNSW Course and Teaching Evaluation and Improvement
(CATEI) surveys we will be asking for your feedback in other
ways during your studies.

ACADEMIC HONESTY AND PLAGIARISM

According to the UNSW website
www.lc.unsw.edu.au/plagiarism Plagiarism is taking the
ideas or words of others and passing them off as your own.
Plagiarism is a type of intellectual theft.

Plagiarism happens for a number of reasonsone is

because some students decide consciously to gain credit for
the work of others. However, most incidents of plagiarism
are not a matter of deliberate cheating but of
underdeveloped academic skills.

This course will be an important opportunity for you to

develop skills in writing and referencing your sources so that
you avoid plagiarism. Look at the website above for help, or
see the resources available through The Learning Centre.
A standard UNSW statement on plagiarism is given below.

What is Plagiarism?
Plagiarism is the presentation of the thoughts or work of
another as ones own. Examples include:
1. Direct duplication of the thoughts or work of another,
including by copying material, ideas or concepts from a
book, article, report or other written document (whether
published or unpublished), composition, artwork,
design, drawing, circuitry, computer program or
software, web site, Internet, other electronic resource,
or another persons assignment without appropriate
acknowledgement;

2. Paraphrasing another persons work with very minor

changes keeping the meaning, form and/or progression
of ideas of the original;

3. Piecing together sections of the work of others into a

new whole;

4. Presenting an assessment item as independent work

when it has been produced in whole or part in collusion
with other people, for example, another student or a
tutor; and

5. Claiming credit for a proportion a work contributed to a

group assessment item that is greater than that actually
contributed

For the purposes of this policy, submitting an assessment

item that has already been submitted for academic credit
elsewhere may be considered plagiarism.
Knowingly permitting your work to be copied by another
student may also be considered to be plagiarism.
Note that an assessment item produced in oral, not written,
form, or involving live presentation, may similarly contain
plagiarized material.
The inclusion of the thoughts or work of another with
attribution appropriate to the academic discipline does not
amount to plagiarism.
The Learning Centre website is main repository for
resources for staff and students on plagiarism and academic
honesty. These resources can be located via:
www.lc.unsw.edu.au/plagiarism
The Learning Centre also provides substantial educational
written materials, workshops, and tutorials to aid students,
for example, in:
1. Correct referencing practices;

2. Paraphrasing, summarizing, essay writing, and time

management;

3. Appropriate use of, and attribution for, a range of

materials including text, images, formulae and
concepts.

Individual assistance is available on request from The

Learning Centre.
Students are also reminded that careful time management is
an important part of study and one of the identified causes of
plagiarism is poor time management. Students should allow
sufficient time for research, drafting, and the proper
referencing of sources in preparing all assessment items.
ADMINISTRATIVE MATTERS
Expectations of students
Students are expected to attend all classes including any
lectures, tutorials, laboratories, etc., that have been
timetabled for the course. We expect University
commitments to take precedence over regular work
activities, holidays, etc. A minimum of 80% attendance is
required for lectures and/or tutorials and/or labs. The non-
compliance with this requirement may disqualify a student
from sitting for the final exam.
UNSW has rules for computer use, for example: for email
and online discussion forums. You will have to agree to them
when you first access the UNSW network.
We expect everyone staff and students to treat each
other with respect.

Procedures for submission of assignments

All written work submitted for assessment must have a
School of Petroleum Engineering Assessment Cover Sheet
attached. The Plagiarism Compliance Statement on this
cover sheet must be signed by the student submitting the
work. Any work submitted without the signed cover sheet
will not be marked. In cases where a cover sheet is
provided after work has been submitted, a late penalty may
be applied. Assessment Cover Sheets are available on the
counter outside the School Office (Room 115) and can also
be downloaded from the Schools website.

Occupational Health and Safety

Like the wider community, UNSW has strict policies and
expectations regarding Occupational Health and Safety. You
should read these. They may be accessed on:
www.riskman.unsw.edu.au/ohs/ohs.shtml
Advice concerning illness or misadventure
If you believe that your performance in one of the
assessment components for the course has been
significantly affected by illness or other unexpected
circumstance, then you should make an application for
special consideration as soon as possible after the event by
visiting UNSW Student Central.
Applying for special consideration does not mean that you
will be granted additional assessment or that you will be
awarded an amended result. The latter will be granted at the
discretion of teaching staff and will be considered only in
exceptional circumstances. The timing of any additional
assessment is entirely at the discretion of teaching staff.
For additional clarification:
Students who do not attend a written examination will fail
unless they have a valid doctors certificate proving that they
are ill at the time of the examination.
1. Students who attend a written examination, but who fall
ill during the examination will be assessed on the
examination paper they submit unless they have a valid
doctors certificate proving that they are ill at the time of
that examination.

2. In the case of illness, the doctors certificate must be

handed to the Student Centre and copied to the course
authority no later than 3 days after the date of the
written examination.

3. If a student can prove illness with a doctors certificate,

in extreme cases only the course authority might give
special consideration and arrange another examination
before the following UNSW semester. In such cases,
the course authority will arrange an ORAL
 examination attended by 2 academics. Whether or
not the course authority arranges another examination
and the form and timing of such an arrangement are
entirely at the discretion of the course authority, whose
decision is final.

4. The School keeps a register of special consideration

applications .The history of a students previous
applications for special consideration is taken into
account when considering each case.

5. If special consideration is granted, the course authority

will assess a student based on the final examination
and not any previous examination paper that the
student might have submitted (see 2 above).

Equity and diversity

Students who have a disability which requires adjustment to
their teaching or learning environment are encouraged to
discuss their study needs either prior to or at the
commencement of their course with the Course Coordinator
or with the Equity Officer (Disability) in the Equity and
Diversity Unit. The Equity Officer can be contacted on: 9385
4734 or at www.equity.unsw.edu.au/disabil.html Issues may
include access to materials, signers or note-takers, and the
provision of services and additional exam and assessment
arrangements. Early notification of requirements for these
services is essential to enable any necessary adjustments to
be made.
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