GASIFICATION

UNDERGROUND COAL
GASIFICATION:
CONVERTING UNMINEABLE
COAL TO ENERGY
W W W . G A S I F I C A T I O N . O R G W W W . G A S I F I C A T I O N . O R G
4301 North Fairfax Drive, Suite 300
Arlington, VA 22203
703.276.0110
4 3 0 1 N o r t h F a i r f a x D r i v e , S u i t e 3 0 0
A r l i n g t o n , V A 2 2 2 0 3
7 0 3 . 2 7 6 . 0 1 1 0
Copyright by the GTC 2012.
W W W. G A S I F I C AT I O N . O R G
1
INTRODUCTION
C
urrently, about 1.5 billion people almost a quarter of the worlds popu-
lationare without electric power. The International Energy Agency
estimates that world energy demand (for all forms of energy, including
transportation fuels) will increase by 36 percent by 2035 and fossil fuels, such
as coal, will continue to play a critical role in meeting this demand.
GASIFICATION
UNDERGROUND COAL GASIFICATION:
CONVERTING UNMINEABLE
COAL TO ENERGY
(Courtesy of the UCG Association)
GASIFICATION CONVERTING UNMINEABLE COAL TO ENERGY 2
However, only about 15 percent of the known coal deposits in the world
are economically mineable. Thus, about 85 percent of the worlds coal
resources (about 1.7 trillion tonnes) are unmineable because of economic,
environmental, or technical reasons. For example, such coal may be too
deeply underground or buried offshore. This stranded coal represents an
untapped energy source. Underground coal gasication (UCG) can unlock
the energy potential in this stranded coal while performing well within all
environmental requirements.
GASIFICATION PRODUCTS
Above-ground gasication has been used worldwide on a commercial scale
for more than 75 years by the chemical, rening, and fertilizer industries and
for more than 35 years by the electric power industry. More recently, it is being
adopted in smaller-scale applications and in new settings to solve the problem
of waste disposal by extracting the valuable energy contained in that waste,
and to utilize alternative renewable feedstocks, such as biomass.
The syngas produced from UCG is similar to that produced by above-ground
gasication and it can likewise be combusted in a gas turbine to produce
electricity or further processed to produce chemicals, transportation fuels,
substitute natural gas, hydrogen, or fertilizers.
W W W. G A S I F I C AT I O N . O R G
3
WHAT IS GASIFICATION?
Gasication is a unique process that transforms any carbon-based material,
such as coal, other fossil fuels, biomass, or secondary recycled materials,
into energy without burning it. Instead, gasication converts materials into
a gas by creating a chemical reaction. This reaction combines those carbon-
based materials (known as feedstocks) with small amounts of air or oxygen,
breaking them down into a gas composed of relatively simple building block
moleculescalled synthesis gas or syngas. The syngas consists primarily of
hydrogen and carbon monoxide and, depending upon the particular gasica-
tion technology and feedstock used, may also contain smaller quantities of
methane, carbon dioxide, hydro-
gen sulde, and water vapor.
Any pollutants and impurities
contained in the raw syngas can
typically be readily and substan-
tially removed leaving a clean
synthesis gas (syngas) that can
be converted into electricity and
valuable products.
In traditional gasication, the
feedstocks and air or oxygen are
injected into a gasier where a
combination of heat and pressure
causes the gasication reaction.
The resulting syngas is then
cleaned to remove any impurities
and the clean syngas can then be
converted into electricity and/or
other valuable products.
VITRIFIED SLAG
BY-PRODUCT
SULFUR
BY-PRODUCT
GASIFIER
FEEDSTOCK OXYGEN PLANT
GAS CLEAN-UP
CLEAN SYNGAS
TO POWER TO PRODUCTS
THE GASIFICATION PROCESS
GASIFICATION CONVERTING UNMINEABLE COAL TO ENERGY 4
WHAT IS UNDERGROUND COAL
GASIFICATION?
With UCG, the actual gasication process takes place underground, generally
below 1,200 feet depth. Recent advances in well drilling technologies are now
enabling UCG development of coals in the 4000-6000 foot depth range, with
increased environmental protection and process efciency benets at these
depths. The underground setting provides both the feedstock source (the
coal) as well as pressure comparable to that of an above-ground gasier. With
most UCG facilities, wells are drilled on two opposite sides of an underground
coal seam. One well is used to inject air or oxygen (and sometimes steam) into
the coal seam to initiate the gasication reaction. The second well is used to
collect the syngas that is formed from the gasication reaction and to pipe it
to the surface for additional processing and use. A pair of wells can last as long
as fteen years.
The UCG reactions are managed by controlling the rate of oxygen or air that is
injected into the coal seam through the injection well. The process is halted by
stopping the injection of the oxygen or air. After the coal is converted to syngas
in a particular location, the remaining cavity (which will contain the leftover
ash or slag from the coal, as well as other rock material) may be ooded with
W W W. G A S I F I C AT I O N . O R G
5
saline water and the wells are capped. However, there is a growing interest in
using these cavities to store carbon dioxide that could be captured from the
above-ground syngas processing. Once a particular coal seam is exhausted,
new wells are drilled to initiate the gasication reaction in a different section
of the coal seam.
UCG operates at pressures below that of the natural coal seam pressure, thus
ensuring that materials are not pushed out into the surrounding formations.
This is in sharp contrast to hydraulic fracturing operations in oil and gas
production, where pressures signicantly above natural formation pressure are
used to force injectants into the formation.
FEEDSTOCK
HYDROGEN FOR
OIL REFINING
CONSUMER
PRODUCTS
SUBSTITUTE
NATURAL GAS
CHEMICALS FERTILIZERS
TRANSPORTATION
FUELS
POWER
STEAM
SYNGAS
G
A
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A
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I
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GASIFICATION PRODUCTS
GASIFICATION CONVERTING UNMINEABLE COAL TO ENERGY 6
CONVERTING UNMINEABLE COAL
The International Energy Agency estimates that developing countries will
account for 93 percent of the projected increase in global energy demand and
that global demand for fossil fuels, including coal, will account for over 50
percent of the increase in total primary energy demand. (See www.iea.org.)
UCG can help meet this rising energy demand by converting coal to energy and
other products, utilizing resources that otherwise would be too deep, of poor
quality or simply not economical enough to mine. Estimates from the U.S.
Department of Energys Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory suggest that
UCG could help increase the recoverable coal reserves in the U.S. by as much
as 300-400 percent, without the need to develop coal mines to tap this energy
source. The World Energy Council estimates that UCG could potentially
increase the worlds recoverable coal reserves by 600 billion tonnes. In addi-
tion, UCG effectively utilizes up to 85 percent of the original heating value of
the coal; a much higher overall efciency than conventional coal mining and
subsequent combustion boilers.
CARBON DIOXIDE
In the traditional gasication system, carbon dioxide can be captured using
commercially available processes before it would otherwise be vented to the
atmosphere. For most gasication applications, except electric power genera-
tion, carbon dioxide capture is actually required by the process design as part
of the overall syngas cleaning. For electric power generation, and as part of
the process to adjust syngas composition for other gasication applications,
a process, called the water-gas shift reaction, (illustrated next page) is used to
convert the carbon monoxide in the syngas stream into carbon dioxide mol-
ecules that can be captured. Capture of carbon dioxide from syngas has been
commercially practiced for decades in the non-power gasication applications,
such as for the production of chemicals, fertilizers or hydrogen.
W W W. G A S I F I C AT I O N . O R G
7
Capturing the carbon dioxide prior to combustion is more economical than
removing carbon dioxide after combustion, effectively de-carbonizing or, at
least, signicantly reducing the carbon in the syngas. Captured carbon dioxide
can be injected into declining oil elds for enhanced oil recovery and perma-
nent carbon dioxide storage. The oil industry has been using this technique
with naturally occurring carbon dioxide for over thirty years to increase the
output of older production elds.
CO
2
REMOVAL FLOW
GASIFICATION CONVERTING UNMINEABLE COAL TO ENERGY 8
In addition, captured carbon dioxide can be injected into other deep coal
seams for enhanced coal bed methane recovery. The injected carbon diox-
ide displaces the methane (used as a substitute natural gas) and the carbon
dioxide is then absorbed into the coal itself.
Carbon dioxide can be captured from UCG operations as well using the same
capture technologies as used in traditional gasication plants. This captured
carbon dioxide can then be used for enhanced oil recovery or enhanced coal
bed methane permanent geologic storage. One advantage of UCG is that the
depleted coal seams used for UCG may also potentially be used as locations
for permanent sequestration or storage of any carbon dioxide produced and
captured from the process.
UCGS ECONOMIC BENEFITS
There are a number of signicant economic benets associated with UCG that
include:
No need for coal mining
No need for coal handling
No need for coal transportation
No need to prepare the coal to be fed into a reactor
No need for ash or slag disposal
Carbon dioxide can be captured and used for Enhanced Oil Recovery
or Enhanced Methane Recovery or other permanent geologic storage
W W W. G A S I F I C AT I O N . O R G
9
UCGS ENVIRONMENTAL BENEFITS
Minimal land use
Underground saline water may be used to reduce the use of drinkable
groundwater or freshwater
Fewer environmental impacts traditionally associated with coal
mining and handling
Coal seams being gasied are located well below fresh drinking water
supplies (the deeper the UCG, the greater the degree of isolation from
fresh water aquifers)
Signicantly reduced criteria air pollutants compared to conventional
coal combustion plants
All or a substantial portion of the sulfur, mercury, arsenic, tar, ash
and particulates found in coal remain underground
Any sulfur or metals that reach the surface do so in a chemically
reduced state, making them easier to remove
No landll disposal is required for ash or slag
UCG MARKET
UCG was rst developed in Europe in the late 1800s, but not commercially
developed until the 1920s and utilized primarily in the former Soviet Union.
Today, with the advancement of new drilling technologies from the oil and
gas industry, the UCG market is global. There are currently commercial scale
projects in Europe, Australia, and South Africa, plus others at the pre-commer-
cial pilot feasibility stage in the USA, New Zealand, Russia, Pakistan, United
Kingdom, Eastern Europe, Chile, Turkey and China. China has the most
extensive modern UCG development program to date. (see map next page)
GASIFICATION CONVERTING UNMINEABLE COAL TO ENERGY 10

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)
W W W. G A S I F I C AT I O N . O R G
11
UCG does face a number of issues, including:
A number of coal seams may not be suitable for UCG because of
geologic or hydrologic conditions, particularly at relatively shallow
depths.
Project economics may be uncertain until a number of UCG projects
are in commercial operation.
Site selection needs to be done properly to avoid any potential for
groundwater contamination and surface subsidence for shallow UCG
projects.
These issues can be mitigated through careful project design, site selection,
and monitoring and these are not usually issues for deep UCG projects. UCG
has enormous potential to allow the world to take advantage of coal resources
that would otherwise be too expensive or difcult to reach. UCG can help
address the global energy challenge.
For more information about gasication see www.gasication.org.
For additional information on UCG, see www.ucgassocation.org.
GASIFICATION CONVERTING UNMINEABLE COAL TO ENERGY 12
GASIFICATION
UNDERGROUND COAL
GASIFICATION:
CONVERTING UNMINEABLE
COAL TO ENERGY
W W W . G A S I F I C A T I O N . O R G W W W . G A S I F I C A T I O N . O R G
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Arlington, VA 22203
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7 0 3 . 2 7 6 . 0 1 1 0
Copyright by the GTC 2012.