Skip to main content
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Design considerations and systematic operation of an underground coal gasification process. [126 Btu/scf (4695 kJ/m/sup 3/)]

Technical Report ·
OSTI ID:5500876
A commercial Underground Coal Gasification (UCG) process could roughly quadruple the 450 billion tons of US coal reserves which are presently recoverable by mining. An UCG field test in a swelling bituminous coal was successfully completed near Pricetown, West Virginia. Instrumentation and a sample handling system designed for real time analysis and control worked well in capturing all the data to accurately analyze the process in spite of the wide variations in the process conditions and product composition. Approximately 702 tons of coal was affected during the test. During the gasification phase, a gas with an average heating valuw of 126 Btu/scf (4695 kJ/m/sup 3/) was produced with only air injection, which resulted in an average energy production of 362 MMBtu/day (382 GJ/d). The percent energy recovery for the gasification phase was 72%. The data obtained from this test have been used to design an effective program that can lead to a commercial demonstration and subsequently, commercial acceptance of this technology for bituminous coals by the early 1990's. 10 references, 6 figures, 4 tables.
Research Organization:
Monsanto Research Corp., Miamisburg, OH (USA). Mound
DOE Contract Number:
AC04-76DP00053
OSTI ID:
5500876
Report Number(s):
MLM-3116(OP); CONF-831063-8; ON: DE84002838
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English