[Graeme]

Fire in the Hole

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'H')owever, Livermore is helping to revive an old technology that offers promise to substantially increase usable coal reserves and make coal a clean and economic alternative fuel. Known as underground coal gasification (UCG), this technology converts coal to a combustible gas underground.

Applying improved UCG technology to gasify deep, thin, and low-grade coal seams could vastly increase the amount of exploitable reserves. The coal could be converted to gas for a variety of uses, and emissions of sulfur, nitrous oxides, and mercury could be dramatically reduced. “UCG could increase recoverable coal reserves in the U.S. by as much as 300 to 400 percent,” says Julio Friedmann, who leads Livermore’s Carbon Management Program. Another benefit of UCG is that hydrogen accounts for half the total gas product.

Although the potential of UCG as a transformational technology for coal has been rediscovered globally, its future maturation depends on the success of the pilot tests that are just beginning. The U.S. government has declared “clean coal” a critical goal for the near term, and the state of California and other government entities have mandated the reduction of CO2 emissions. “Current plans are for an additional 120 coal-fired power plants around the world in the next decade,” says Friedmann. “UCG could be used to power many of them.” Success requires that the right tools are available to accurately assess the economic viability and environmental consequences of UCG in all phases, from planning to operations to site closure.

[Tanada]

This particular scheme seems to come up annually, has anyone anywhere actually developed a working site where this has been proved? Or is it all still in the study stage?

[Graeme]

Four test sites are mentioned in the article:



$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')his map shows underground coal gasification (UCG) sites worldwide, including planned sites and prior pilot test sites. The sites of note are Centralia, Washington, and Hoe Creek, Wyoming, which are two Lawrence Livermore test sites; Chinchilla, Australia, where the longest pilot in the Western world was recently completed; and Angren, Uzbekistan, where a commercial UCG plant has operated for 50 years. The underlying gray shading shows potential areas for geologic carbon storage.