Execution and performance of the CRIP process during the Rocky Mountain 1 UCG field test

Conference · Mon Aug 01 04:00:00 EDT 1988

OSTI ID:6917257

Thorsness, C B; Hill, R W; Britten, J A

The Controlled Retracting Injection Point (CRIP) process for underground coal gasification (UCG) was successfully demonstrated during the Rocky Mountain I (RM I) field test conducted in the winter of 1987-88 near Hanna, Wyoming. The basic features for the CRIP process are its ability to maintain oxidant injection low in the coal seam by utilizing a horizontal, lined injection borehole, and its ability to re-ignite the coal at a given location via a movable igniter/torch assembly, when heat losses to inert overburden begin to degrade product gas quality in the mature cavity. This assembly is positioned to burn through the stainless steel liner at desire locations, creating new injection points for oxygen and steam, thereby allowing for multiple cavities from a single injection borehole. During the field test, thermocouples in the vicinity of the reactors indicated growth of the cavity beginning low in the coal seam. Also, on each of the three occasions that the torch was used to cut the liner and initiate a new cavity, a rapid improvement in gas quality occurred. These results confirm the ability of the CRIP process to operate as planned. In this paper the details of the igniter assembly are described, operating conditions during the liner cutting maneuvers are presented and data describing the system response to the initiation of new cavities are analyzed. Finally, optimization of the igniter assembly and its use at high pressures and in alternate geometries is discussed. 9 refs., 12 figs.

• Research Organization: Lawrence Livermore National Lab., CA (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-48
• OSTI ID: 6917257
• Report Number(s): UCRL-98641; CONF-880874-2; ON: DE88015440
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT
010404* -- Coal
Lignite
& Peat-- Gasification
CALORIFIC VALUE
CAVITIES
COAL GASIFICATION
COMBUSTION PROPERTIES
DEMONSTRATION PROGRAMS
ELEMENTS
ENERGY LOSSES
FIELD TESTS
FLUID INJECTION
FLUIDS
FUEL GAS
FUELS
GAS FUELS
GASES
GASIFICATION
HEAT LOSSES
IGNITION
IN-SITU GASIFICATION
IN-SITU PROCESSING
LOSSES
NONMETALS
OXYGEN
PROCESSING
STEAM
TESTING
THERMOCHEMICAL PROCESSES