Coalbed methane: an unconventional gas resource is piped to end-users for commercial applications

Journal Article · Mon Sep 24 04:00:00 EDT 1984 · Energy Res. Rep.; (United States)

OSTI ID:6483963

Efforts to extract methane from coal-bed seams reached a commercial milestone early in September as TRW Inc. of Redondo Beach, California, sold natural gas produced from seams in Alabama. The sale marks the first fully integrated installation where the extraction and sale of pipeline-quality methane from coal seams is the sole objective, said Roland L. Robertson, director of the TRW program. TRW is but one of the companies involved in past years with research on coal-seam methane-extraction technologies. The Dept. of Energy first sponsored the work in 1976, as part of its unconventional gas recovery program. The unconventional resources include tight gas sands, gas from Devonian shale deposits, geopressured aquifers and the coalbed gas. Efforts to develop the geopressured aquifers have generally been disappointing, but extraction of the other resources continues to advance. The present TRW contract is with the Gas Research Institute and totals $15 million. The program seeks to characterize coal-seam resources, improve technology and conduct field tests. It's a follow-on to the work initiated by DOE through the Morgantown Energy Technology Center in West Virginia.

• OSTI ID: 6483963
• Journal Information: Energy Res. Rep.; (United States), Journal Name: Energy Res. Rep.; (United States) Vol. 10: 17; ISSN ERRED
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

03 NATURAL GAS
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29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY
294001 -- Energy Planning & Policy-- Coal
294003 -- Energy Planning & Policy-- Natural Gas
295000 -- Energy Planning & Policy-- Hydrogen & Synthetic Fuels
ALKANES
COAL DEPOSITS
COAL SEAMS
ENERGY SOURCES
EXTRACTION
FLUIDS
FOSSIL FUELS
FUEL GAS
FUELS
GAS FUELS
GASES
GEOLOGIC DEPOSITS
HYDROCARBONS
METHANE
MINERAL RESOURCES
NATURAL GAS
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
RECOVERY
RESOURCES
SAFETY
SEPARATION PROCESSES