Underground Coal Gasification (UCG) is an alternative coal mining method that is operated remotely from the surface. The coal is extracted by gasification rather than the mechanical excavation used in conventional mining, and without the associated environmental impacts.
It provides the opportunity to utilise large reserves of otherwise inaccessible coal, minimising the environmental impact of extraction and providing the energy as syngas (hydrogen and carbon monoxide) as the basis for a new generation of clean power and liquid fuels technologies.
UCG accesses the coal through boreholes and recovers the coal transformed into a gas. It does this by injecting oxidising gases such as oxygen, steam or air down a borehole into a gasification chamber in the coal, reactions convert the coal into a gas, and the UCG product gas is extracted through another borehole. Only the coal is removed and any rock mixed with the coal (generally referred to as ash) is left underground. The gas is cleaned on the surface and processed for its specific use at that site.
The process eliminates the surface disturbance associated with large mines, removes people from underground hazards, leaves rock and ash in the coal seam underground, preserves groundwater levels, and produces the energy in efficient and easily processed form as gas. It is the lowest cost route to all the new clean coal technologies which are based on coal gasification, and provides the most economic method for carbon capture.
View this short video to get a better understanding of Carbon Energy’s world leading technology and methodology for the production of syngas
Carbon Energy is an active member of the UCG Partnership (UCGP) which is the "...definitive source of information, support and public focal point for UCG globally, to see worldwide deployment of Underground Coal Gasification as a proven method of clean energy capable of filling the world's energy gap." For more information go to http://www.ucgp.com
