The potential for enhanced methane production and geologic sequestration of carbon dioxide in coalbeds needs to be evaluated before large-scale sequestration projects are undertaken. Geologic sequestration of carbon dioxide in deep unmineable coal seams with the potential for enhanced coalbed methane production has become a viable option to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The coal matrix is believed to shrink during methane production and swell during the injection of carbon dioxide, causing changes in tlie cleat porosity and permeability of the coal seam. However, the influence of swelling and shrinkage, and the geomechanical response during the process of carbon dioxide injection and methane recovery, are not well understood. A three-dimensional swelling and shrinkage model based on constitutive equations that account for the coupled fluid pressure-deformation behavior of a porous medium was developed and implemented in an existing reservoir model. Several reservoir simulations were performed at a field site located in the San Juan basin to investigate the influence of swelling and shrinkage, as well as other geomechanical parameters, using a modified compositional coalbed methane reservoir simulator (modified PSU-COALCOMP). The paper presents numerical results for interpretation of reservoir performance during injection of carbon dioxide at this site. Available measured data at the …

An understanding of the effects of sunlight on human skin begins with the effects on DNA and extends to cells, animals and humans. The major DNA photoproducts arising from UVB (280-320 nm) exposures are cyclobutane pyrimidine dimers. If unrepaired, they may kill or mutate cells and result in basal and squamous cell carcinomas. Although UVA (320-400 nm) and visible wavelengths are poorly absorbed by DNA, the existing data indicate clearly that exposures to these wavelengths are responsible, in an animal model, for {approx}95 % of the incidence of cutaneous malignant melanoma (CMM). Six lines of evidence, to be discussed in detail, support the photosensitizing role of melanin in the induction of this cancer. They are: (1) Melanomas induced in backcross hybrids of small tropical fish of the genus Xiphophorus, exposed to wavelengths from 302-547 nm, indicate that {approx}95% of the cancers induced by exposure to sunlight would arise from UVA + visible wavelengths; (2) The action spectrum for inducing melanin-photosensitized oxidant production is very similar to the spectrum for inducing melanoma; (3) Albino whites and blacks, although very sensitive to sunburn and the sunlight induction of non-CMM, have very low incidences of CMM; (4) The incidence of CMM as a …