Experimental Study on the Properties of Gas Diffusion in Various Rank Coals under Positive Pressure

[Image: see text] A kind of closed mining and nonventilation working face is proposed, which provides a possibility for eliminating coal mine accidents and extracting high-purity gas. During mining, a confined space above normal pressure is formed in the face. Geological conditions cause significant differences in the physicochemical properties of coal and affect the occurrence and migration of gas in coal seams. The pore structures of five coal samples were obtained by mercury injection and low-temperature nitrogen adsorption. The self-made positive pressure desorption experimental device was used to conduct isothermal desorption experiments under different environmental pressures. An extended Langmuir model was proposed to carry out regression analysis on the curve of positive pressure desorption with time. The effect of coal pore structure on gas diffusion properties was discussed. The results indicate that the development degree of micropores in coal determines the amount of gas adsorption. With the increase of coal rank, both the ultimate desorption quantity and desorption rate first decrease and then increase. The positive pressure enhances the concentration of methane outside the coal and inhibits methane diffusion. With an increase of positive pressure, the desorption capacity of the high-rank ZG was significantly inhibited, and the desorption limit and initial desorption rate decreased by 15.80–44.54 and 16.92–47.93%, respectively. The diffusion coefficient of the middle-rank XS has the greatest decrease rate of 1.56–18.05%. The pore structure of coal is the essential reason that affects methane diffusion.