There was performed a research into the sorption of methane and of a mixture of methane and carbon dioxide on low-rank coal (type 32.2, according to PN-82/G-97002). Experiments were carried out by means of the volumetric method on a cubicoid solid sample, sized 20 x 20 x 40 mm, cut out of the primal body. At the same time, the changes occurring in the sample's overall dimensions, which accompanied sorption processes, were monitored. The kinetic curves of methane deposition and evacuation (two measurement cycles) and the deposition kinetic curve for the mixture of carbon dioxide and methane in a coal structure containing methane previously sorbed were determined, as well as the adequate kinetics of coal strains resulting from the sorption/desorption processes. The results show that in the experimental conditions sorption process and the induced strains noticed in the coal-methane system are proportional. When slightly approximated, the correlation between induced strains and the quantity of gases being sorbed epsilon = f (V) becomes linear. However, the course of sample strain kinetics for the time of experiment in the coal-gaseous mixture indicates the occurrence of sample shrinkage after a dynamic increase in sizes, although the gas was being still collected in the coal structure. Their relation with the quantity of gas under sorption epsilon = f (V) was linear only in the initial stage of experiment. It was found that in the case of the coal under investigation preferable is the sorption of carbon dioxide, not of methane, and CH(4) is displaced from the sorbed phases by CO(2). It seems feasible to recover CH(4) through capture and storage of CO(2) in a coal bed whose structure, parameters and petrographic composition complies with the material under research. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.