Economic sensitivity study of UCG based on field performance, theory, and operational experience

Abstract

J o h n Eugene B o y s e n R o b e r t D. 6unn I Date P u b l i s h e d-November 197% I Laramie bergy T e c h n o l o g y C e n t e r Laramle, Wyoming ?~~I 0 8 m m DISCLAIMER This report was prepared as an account of work sponsored by an agency of the United States Government.

Underground coal gasification: Development of theory, laboratory experimentation, interpretation, and correlation with the Hanna field tests: Final report

“…The economic study initiated by the University of Wyoming and the Laramie Energy Technology Center was completed in 1978, and the results have been reported in several publications (Gunn and Boysen, 1978;Boysen, Gunn and Whitman, 1978;Boysen and Gunn, 1979). This work demonstrated clearly that previous economic studies fell into two distinctly different classifications: those which depended entirely on field test experimental data and those which failed to use experimental data in one or more important categories.…”

“…Whitman Whitman, Boysen andGunn (1978} conducted simulations of underground coal gasification in a 4 x 5 foot simulator filled with a layer of ground coal 7 to 9 inches thick. The objectives of these experiments were to verify mathematical model predictions and to verify that carefully selected aspects of UCG can be simulated.…”

“…The economic analyses of Boysen and Gunn {1979) showed that the process design portion involved a minimum of six independent variables. Two of these variables, seam depth and seam thickness, are fixed immediately on selection of a gasification site.…”

“…Our own comparison, however, shows that these differences stem primarily from differences related to site selection, that is, seam thickness and seam depth. The table below shows a comparison of two gas production costs, the first cost comes from the original report but scaled to 1978 dollars and the second cost is calculated by Boysen and Gunn (1978) at comparable conditions. Table VIII-1 Comparison of Gas Cost According to Original Report with Gas Cost Estimated by Boysen and Gunn (1978) Gas A comparison of the right and left hand columns in Table 1 shows that when four different studies are compared on a comparable basis there is a maximum difference of $0.20 per million Btu•s.…”

Assessment of underground coal gasification in bituminous coals: potential UCG products and markets. Final report, Phase I

“…influx. A range of price for LBG or MBG from $2.90 to $5.70/MMBTU (50%-65% Equity Basis) can be inferred by combining information provided in several studies and scaling the prices to 1980 dollars[26][27][28][29}. No distinction can be mad~ between LBG and MBG price requirements since some studies show LBG to be costlier and in others MBG is the more expensive.…”