Underground Coal Gasification
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Underground Coal Gasification (“UCG”) is a gasification process carried on in non-mined coal seams using injection and production wells drilled from the surface, which enables the coal to be converted into product gas. The process is flexible in operation and is capable of producing commercial quantities of gas to be used as a chemical feedstock or as fuel for power generation. The technique is able to be applied to resources which are otherwise not commercially viable to extract and also offers an alternative to conventional coal mining methods for some resources.
In the year 1868, Sir William Siemens was, apparently, the first to suggest the underground gasification of waste and slack coal, in the mine. The first experimental work started in Co. Durham (UK), in the year 1912, under the leadership of William Ramsey. However, he was unable to complete this work before the beginning of World War I and all efforts to UCG development in Western Europe were discontinued to the end of the second world war. The USSR's intensive research and development program during the 1930's costing approximately US$75 billion (2005 dollars) led to the operation of industrial scale UCG in the 1950's at several coal sites however activity subsequently declined due to the discovery of extensive natural gas resources and only one site is still in operation today.
Between the years 1944 to 1959, the shortage in energy and the diffusion of the results of the UCG experiments in USSR during the period 1934-1940 induced new interest for UCG in Western European coal mining countries. The first research work was directed to the development of UCG in thin seams, at shallow depth. The stream method was tested in Belgium, on the site of Bois-la Dame (1948) and in Morocco, on the site of Djerada (1949). The boreholes method was tested in Great Britain, on the sites of Newman Spinney and Bayton (1949-1950). A few years later, a first attempt was made to develop a commercial pilot plant: the P5 Trial in Newman Spinney (1958-1959). During the Sixties, all European work was stopped, due to abundance of energy and to the low oil prices. In the USA, a UCG program was initiated in 1972, which built upon Russian experience, as well as the implementation of an extensive field testing program; the latter being supported by a number of research institutes and universities.
More recently the successful demonstration conducted by Ergo Exergy Technologies Inc (Canada) near the town of Chinchilla, some 350 km west of Brisbane, in Queensland, Australia has resulted in a surge of interest in the technology. The Chinchilla demonstration began in December 1999, and is owned by Linc Energy Limited (Australia). Up until the end of the controlled shutdown program, which was completed in April 2003, the demonstration involved the gasification of 35,000 tonnes of coal, and resulted in successful environmental performance as per independent audit reports. Linc Energy plans to commence production in May 2007.
A number of new projects are currently in planning and development stages across the globe.
[edit] References
- An Untapped Energy Source: Underground Coal Gasification, Peter E. Doerell.- http://www.worldenergy.org/wec-geis/publications/default/tech_papers/18th_Congress/downloads/ds/ds6/ds6_1.pdf
- Ergo Exergy Technologies Inc - http://www.ergoexergy.com
- Dr. Michael B. Green ("Independent Specialist in UCG") - http://www.coal-ucg.com/
- Guardian Unlimited, "Bottom of the barrel", 2nd December 2003 - http://www.guardian.co.uk/oil/story/0,11319,1097672,00.html
