Abstract
The underground coal gasification (UCG) has a potential for converting the world’s coal resources into energy, liquid fuels and chemicals. The UCG process involves the injection of steam and air or oxygen into an underground coal seam and igniting and burning of coal in-situ to produce the combustible gas. Previous studies showed that many criteria affect site selection of UCG. The criteria include coal seam properties, faulting, discontinuity, properties of hanging wall and footwall of coal seam and hydrogeological regime. In this paper, considering proper UCG site selection criteria, coal seam was ranked and selected for the UCG based on the controlled retraction injection point (CRIP) configuration in Mazino coal deposit. The result of this investigation showed that the M2 coal seam has great advantage (considering the seam thickness and reservoir) related to the other coal seams for the gasification by CRIP configuration. Key words: Underground coal gasification (UCG), site selection criteria, Tabas coalfield, clean energy.
Highlights
Coal is the largest fossil fuel resource in the world, with proven reserves that are adequate to meet the expected demand, without much increase in production costs (Couch, 2009)
The aim of the present paper is ranking of coal seams for controlled retraction injection point (CRIP) configuration by considering important criteria in UCG site selection
Step 1: Suitable coal seam based on UCG in traditional scale
Summary
Coal is the largest fossil fuel resource in the world, with proven reserves that are adequate to meet the expected demand, without much increase in production costs (Couch, 2009). With the depletion in the oil and gas reserves, coal is expected to play an important role in the global energy sector in the near future (BP, 2010).Underground coal gasification (UCG) offers the potential for using the energy stored in coal in an economical and environmentally sensitive way, from deposits that are not mineable by conventional methods (Couch, 2009). UCG is a candidate process for converting the world’s coal resources into energy, liquid fuels, and chemicals. If the UCG process is developed commercially, it would increase coal reserves by 60% (Sarraf, 2012).
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