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

LLL in situ coal gasification program. Quarterly progress report, October--December 1976. [15 refs]

Technical Report ·
OSTI ID:7216258

The major emphasis was on completing Hoe Creek Experiment No. 1. Field work began with dewatering the fractured zone, and several days of air-flow testing followed. The coal bed was ignited. No problems with liquid plugging were evident, but after one day of operation at 60 psig and low flow (100 to 200 scfm), a sudden increase in flow (to over 2000 scfm) and a corresponding drop in pressure indicated a major obstruction had blown or burned out. Subsequent temperature measurements indicated the major portion of the burn was from then on at the top of the coal seam. Even though the override was severe, the gas quality was relatively high (100 to 200 Btu/scfm). When gasification ended on October 26, 1976, approximately 130 tons of coal (about 16 percent of that in the fractured zone) had been consumed. Operationally, the experiment was quite successful, and although the coal recovery was not as high as originally hoped for, the override had been predicted on the basis of the postfracture diagnostics. The experiment provided an opportunity to evaluate some of the environmental effects of an in-situ process. Preliminary data show some increase in phenol concentration close to the burn zone, but the analysis has not yet been completed. Air-quality measurements were made downwind from the flare stack several times during the gasification period. No significant deviations from Wyoming standards were found until the very end of the experiment.

Research Organization:
California Univ., Livermore (USA). Lawrence Livermore Lab.
DOE Contract Number:
W-7405-ENG-48
OSTI ID:
7216258
Report Number(s):
UCRL-50026-76-4
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English