Underground Coal Gasification: A Brief Review of Current Status

Abstract

Coal gasification is a promising option for the future use of coal. Similarly to gasification in industrial reactors, underground coal gasification (UCG) produces syngas, which can be used for power generation or for the production of liquid hydrocarbon fuels and other valuable chemical products. As compared with conventional mining and surface gasification, UCG promises lower capital/operating costs and also has other advantages, such as no human labor underground. In addition, UCG has the potential to be linked with carbon capture and sequestration. The increasing demand for energy, depletion of oil and gas resources, and threat of global climate change lead to growing interest in UCG throughout the world. In this article, we review the current status of this technology, focusing on recent developments in various countries.

Innovative thermodynamic underground coal gasification model for coupled synthesis gas quality and tar production analyses

“…Various factors during the in-situ UCG reactor operation often hamper a continuously stable process performance (e.g. water ingress, heat losses), in consequence partially leading to lower synthesis gas qualities and undesired hazardous byproducts [1,3,[8][9][10][11][12][13][14]. Pollutant charged gas leakage from the UCG reactor due to roof rock failure as a thermo-mechanical response of in-situ pressure and temperature conditions recently marks one of the most severe potential environmental impacts [1,6,[15][16][17][18][19].…”

Hard (bituminous) coal resources in Poland – expectations and reality

“…Proces ten może utrudniać prowadzenie PZW. Próby zgazowania węgla na dużej głębokości kończyły się niepowodzeniem (Shafrovich i Varma 2009).…”

Optimization of Water Pumping and Injection for Underground Coal Gasification in the Meiguiying Mine, China

“…Underground coal gasification (UCG) is a relatively new technology for using coal resources efficiently and cleanly (Khadse et al 2007;Shafirovich and Varma 2009). In China, more than 65 % of the energy consumed is from coal and 70 % of their electric power (Trinnaman and Clarke 2004).…”