In recent years, with the large-scale development of shallow coal resources, increasing numbers of coal mines enter deep mining stages. With the rapid increase in gas content and gas emissions in deep mining, gas disaster accidents occur more frequently, which has become the main factor restricting the safe and efficient production of coal resources. Coalbed methane (CBM) can be considered a form of low-carbon clean energy. The emission of CBM and other greenhouse gases in the process of coal mining leads to an increase in the greenhouse effect and energy waste. Therefore, increasing the exploitation of CBM is not only essential for the prevention and control of gas disasters, but also for the optimization of energy production and for meeting carbon neutral targets.

However, deep coal seams have high stress, high adsorption strength, and low permeability, making the exploitation of CBM more difficult. As a result, the challenges faced in the simultaneous exploitation of coal and CBM become more prominent. Meanwhile, the basic theory of gas flow and efficient drainage in deep coal seams is insufficient, and the gas flow mechanisms under the coupling effects of stress field, fracture field, and gas field are not clear. The key engineering problems of gas drainage in deep coal mines, such as permeability-increasing technology, gas drilling, and well completion, have not been effectively solved. Therefore, there is an urgent need to further our understanding of geofluids in the simultaneous exploitation of coal and CBM and strengthen the research and development of key technologies.

The aim of this Special Issue will collect high-quality original research articles and review papers reflecting advances in research on geofluids in the simultaneous exploitation of coal and CBM, including multi-scale and multi-field coupling analysis of gas permeability enhancement, efficient gas extraction theory of low permeability coal seams, and key technology and equipment in high efficiency gas drainage.

Potential topics include but are not limited to the following:

• Theories and models of gas permeability enhancement in mining coal and rock mass
• Failure mechanisms and characteristics of gas-bearing coal and rock mass in deep mining
• Multi-scale/field coupling methods in geofluids in coal and rock
• Multi-phase fluid transport in mining coal and rock mass
• Accurate prediction theories of desorption and emission of deep pressure relief gas
• Experimental or numerical simulation studies for enhanced coalbed methane (ECBM)
• Efficient gas extraction methods, technology, and equipment for low permeability coal seams
• Intelligent control methods and technology for gas drainage based on big data, cloud computing, and artificial intelligence
• Coal rock dynamic disaster mechanisms associated with geofluids in deep coal mining
• Carbon emissions and environmental protection issues in simultaneous exploitation of coal and coalbed methane
• Geology, geochemical characteristics, and origins of coalbed methane