During the present days of energy crises and increasing gap in the demand and supply of energy all over the world, it is utmost important to make an optimum usage of all the energy resources to its best exploitation and also to search for the alternate energy source for meeting the present and future energy requirements for sustainable development and economic growth. The search for the alternate energy brought the advent of Coal Bed Methane development. Coal Bed Methane is a greenhouse gas which is considered to be 21 times more harmful than carbon dioxide. Methane is absorbed in coal seams and the surrounding strata and released during coal mining. Small amounts of methane are also released during the processing, transportation and storage of coal. Methane can cause explosions in underground mines when it is trapped in coal beds and then suddenly released during mining. Recovery of CBM, which escapes into the atmosphere can not only reduce the mining hazard but also can be used as a source of energy and fuel as it is a remarkably clean fuel. In this study, south-western part of Raniganj Coalfield has been selected and gas content is determined by analyzing the collected sample. This approach was performed as a contribution to the development and to evaluate the economical feasibility of the reservoir. Our aim is to reduce emissions which come from mines and reduce mining hazard. Methane emission from open cast mining is around 8% which may increase up to 20% since 2000-2020.
