Underground coal gasification: a leading contender in the synfuels industry
Underground coal gasification (UCG) promieses to be a relatively low cost, environmentaly sound method for producing clean fuels from coal deposits that are unattractive for mining. The coal is gasified in place, with the reactions supported by oxygen and steam piped down from the surface. Gases produced by the combustion reactions are piped to the surface, where they can be converted to various useful fuels such as pipeline quality gas or gasoline at costs estimated to be competitive with those for fuels from conventional sources. Huge deposits of deep coal exist in the US which are not economically recoverable by mining. It appears that a successful UCG process could recover enough of these presently unusable resources to quadruple our coal reserves. Thus there is a strong economic incentive to develop the UCG process. As a further advantage, the UCG process is expected to have only minor environmental impact since the coal is consumed underground and most of the waste products remain there. In the US, an R and D program in UCG has been supported by the Department of Energy and its predecessor agencies for about a decade, and private industry has also been active in developing the process; elsewhere in the world, development programs are being carried on in a number of countries. Results have been very encouraging, and it appears that if government and industry continue to support UCG development, then the UCG process could become commercially established by the 1990s.
- Research Organization:
- Lawrence Livermore National Lab., CA (USA)
- DOE Contract Number:
- W-7405-ENG-48
- OSTI ID:
- 5415176
- Report Number(s):
- UCRL-53216; ON: DE82007988
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY
294001 -- Energy Planning & Policy-- Coal
BOREHOLE LINKING
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
COAL DEPOSITS
COAL GASIFICATION
COAL RESERVES
COAL SEAMS
COMBUSTION
COST
DATA
DEPTH
DIMENSIONS
DOCUMENT TYPES
ELEMENTS
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS
FIELD TESTS
FLUIDS
FUEL GAS
FUELS
GAS FUELS
GASES
GASIFICATION
GEOLOGIC DEPOSITS
GROUND SUBSIDENCE
GROUND WATER
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
IN-SITU GASIFICATION
IN-SITU PROCESSING
INFORMATION
MINERAL RESOURCES
NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
NONMETALS
NORTH AMERICA
NUMERICAL DATA
OXIDATION
OXYGEN
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PLANNING
POLLUTION
PROCESSING
RESERVES
RESOURCES
REVERSE COMBUSTION
REVIEWS
STEAM
TESTING
THERMOCHEMICAL PROCESSES
THICKNESS
US DOE
US ORGANIZATIONS
USA
WATER
WATER POLLUTION
WELL SPACING