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Introduction

Underground coal gasification (UCG) will develop more global reserves using in-situ conversion of stranded coal deposits into power, fuels, chemicals and other products. Nearly 85% of known coal reserves are unmineable with surface mining techniques, but UCG is producing fuels and hydrocarbon feedstock today from unrecoverable coal deposits.

Countries are turning to UCG to fully utilize their coal resources in an economically viable and environmentally acceptable manner. Using UCG technology even without a carbon-capture-and-sequestration plan could also be eligible for carbon credits.

In the US, BP and GasTech Inc. are developing an UCG demonstration project that will test GasTech's technology in the Powder River Basin that will be followed by a commercial-scale UCG project. BP and Ergo
Exergy Technologies will cooperate in UCG projects using Ergo's expertise in developing once unrecoverable coal through its proprietary in-situ technology.

BP also signed with Lawrence Livermore National Lab to cooperate in UCG technology development and projects, addressing carbon management to evaluate CO2 storage feasibility; environmental risk assessment/management; and numerical modeling of UCG processes.

India's known reserves will be exhausted in less than 40 years if conventional mining methods continue and much of its reserves may not be extractable with current mining technologies. India sees coal gasification as a major energy source for achieving the country's economic growth, and anticipates the technology contributing as much as 9% to 10% to the country's domestic energy needs over the next five years.

UCG is a major part of India's energy policy, as well as its 11th five-year economic development plan. The country is experiencing an emerging leadership role in clean-coal technologies. India looks to utilize its vast coal reserves, which are the forth-largest reserves in the world, to reduce dependency on oil and gas imports. Given its growing demand, UCG will be used to tap India's coal reserves that are difficult to extract economically using conventional technologies.

South Africa is at the forefront of research in using lower-grade coal for power generation.
Eskom's UCG pilot plant at its Majuba power station in Mpumalanga uses UCG syngas to fuel the station's boilers. A proposed $3 billion, 2,100-MW IGCC power station will receive syngas from an adjacent commercial-scale UCG project.

Construction is under way on China's first UCG project in the Northern Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. The $112 million project is a joint venture between Hebei Xin'ao Group and China University of Mining and Technology. The project will produce 1.5 MMcmd of syngas and yield 100,000-tpy of methanol, as well as generate 32.4 million kWh/year of power.

Vietnam Coal and Minerals Corp., Marubeni and Linc Energy will use UCG technology to develop 30 billon tons of bituminous coal reserves in the Song Hong (Red River) Delta for power generation. Marubeni initially provided $100 million to explore the area.

Cougar Energy UK is also developing a 400-MW Pakistani power project with the country's Sindh Coal Authority that will use UCG to gasify Thar coalfield reserves.

Discuss the latest UCG project and technology developments at SYNGAS Refiner's annual Underground Coal Gasification conference, July 16-17, 2008.

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