Clean energy from coal bed gas

A new method of extracting energy from coal layers that until now were considered too deep to access can help ‘bridge the gap’ between today’s fossil-fuelled economy and the potential hydrogen economy of the future. Better still, this method can be efficient and clean.

Coal contains methane gas, a combustible gas with a high caloric value that can be used in much the same way as natural gas. Many coal layers are simply too deep underground, or too thin to be exploited in the traditional way. Yet, they can hold large deposits of methane. The Dutch research and development institute TNO has recently conducted a large-scale test in Poland of a new way of extracting this valuable gas.

..”I have no doubt that in the near future we can indeed harvest up to 80 percent of the methane trapped in coal beds. Furthermore, there is so much of it that it can fulfil the energy needs of the planet for about 200 years. That gives us time to make the change to a hydrogen economy. And, as far as I’m concerned, the best thing of all: if you use the methane on the spot for a local power plant, you can use the CO2 that the plant produces for extracting more methane from the coal bed. It’s a closed circle. And completely clean.”

Radio Netherlands