The footprint of UCG is small compared with coal seam gas and conventional mining, and the additional resource recovery can be substantial.
Table 1 compares underground coal mining and UCG for an average 7m thick coal seam over an area of 12km2 that is assessable for both UCG and underground coal mining within a typical coal sequence.
| Total Area 12km2 | Total In situ Energy (PJ) | Recoverable Energy (PJ) |
| Coal Resource (Underground) | 2400 | 800 |
| Coal Resource (UCG) | 2400 +22.8* | 1257+22.8* |
Table 1. Energy (PJ) potentially recoverable from 12km2 section of the Surat Basin (Australia) as an example .The produced gas from UCG is function of the oxidant used, e.g. oxygen or air, and the coal attributes, thickness, depth quality etc.
Carbon Energy's wholly owned UCG technology developed in conjunction with CSIRO enables us to offer the following
- Site selection and characterisation methodology
- UCG design tools and modelling packages
- Environmental control techniques, process design and control models
Site Selection
Carbon Energy can evaluate the feasibility of UCG on a particular site, design the optimum UCG layout, model the gas composition that will be produced and determine the optimum configuration for the use of the gas. For example, Carbon Energy can determine the configuration of power and liquid fuel options and hybrids that will produce the best outcome economically and environmentally.
The proprietary Carbon Energy tools provide the capability to do real time process analyses to identify the causes of variations in the underground gasifier performance and to make timely changes to operating conditions to continuously maintain gas product quality. An important component of the environmental control modelling is the Cosflow technology, originally developed as a project between CSIRO and the Japanese government. This program allows the impact of coal extraction on the surrounding strata and hydrology to be accurately predicted and problems avoided.
These capabilities are unique and offer the resource owner the opportunity to commercialise what was previously inaccessible coal reserves.