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Rest In Peace, old friend, your work is finished.......
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Posted on 07/13/2007 6:33:22 AM PDT by Red Badger
BP and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) have signed a technical agreement to work cooperatively on the development of underground coal gasification (UCG) technology for the in-situ conversion of coal deposits into fuels and other products.
At a UCG production facility, air or oxygen is injected into the cavity, water enters from surrounding rock, and partial combustion and gasification take place at the coal seam face after ignition. The resulting high-pressure syngas stream is returned to the surface, where the gas is separated and contaminants are removed.
UCG offers the potential to produce fuels and hydrocarbon feedstock from coal deposits which may otherwise be unrecoverable. By introducing a carefully controlled supply of air or oxygen through wells into a coal seam, the coal can be reacted in situ to produce mixtures of hydrogen, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, methane and other gases. These can be recovered to the surface through wells and used as fuel for power generation or as feedstock for the production of chemicals and other hydrocarbon products.
The UCG syngas is similar to syngas obtained from conventional surface coal gasification systems, but production is achieved at a much lower cost.
The initial two-year technical agreement with LLNL will address three broad areas of UCG technology:
*
Carbon management to evaluate the feasibility of carbon dioxide storage underground; *
Environmental risk assessment and management; and *
Numerical modeling of the UCG processes to understand and history match pilot test results.
The technical objective based on BP’s in-house data is for LLNL to provide BP with expertise, model results, new capabilities and insights into the operation and environmental management of UCG. LLNL has been working with UCG technology development and field deployment for more than 30 years and will provide its experience and capabilities in advanced computation and modeling, engineering, environmental management, and carbon management (including carbon sequestration).
A number of countries, including the US, Former Soviet Union (FSU), China and Australia, have carries out UCG tests over the preceding decades. The FSU alone carried out more than 50 years of research on UCG, field tests and several commercial projects, including an electric power plant in Uzbekistan that is still in operation today.
According to LLNL, multiple commercial projects are in various stages of development in the US, Canada, South Africa, India, Australia, New Zealand, and China to produce power, liquid fuels, and synthetic natural gas.
In May, for example, construction began on China’s first industrial-pilot underground coal gasification (UCG) project in the Northern Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. Seven ignition and production wells reached the coalbed 200 meters below ground by May 23 in the project's $112 million first phase. The project consists of underground drilling and ignition, aboveground coal-gasification power generation, and chemical production.
Several processes exist to initiate and control UCG reactions, including the Controlled Retraction Injection Point (CRIP) process [developed by LLNL] and Ergo Exergy’s proprietary εUCG process. These ignition processes create a syngas stream which is compositionally similar to surface-produced syngas. It can have higher CO2 and hydrogen products due to a number of factors, including a higher than optimal rate of water flux into the UCG reactor and ash catalysis of water-gas shift. Because of the nature of in-situ conversion, UCG syngas is lower in sulfur, tar, particulates and mercury than conventional syngas and has very low ash content. Other components are similar and can be managed through conventional gas processing and clean up.
The economics of UCG appear extremely promising. The capital expenses of UCG plants appear to be substantially less than the equivalent plant fed by surface gasifiers because purchase of a gasifier is not required. Similarly, operating expenses are likely to be much lower because of the lack of coal mining, coal transportation, and significantly reduced ash management facilities. Even for configurations requiring a substantial environmental monitoring program and additional swing facilities, UCG plants retain many economic advantages. —from “Best Practices in Underground Coal Gasification”
There are two primary, shorter-term environmental hazards associated with UCG: ground-water contamination and surface subsidence. Both of these, according to LLNL, appear avoidable through careful site selection and management.
Environmental risk assessment for UCG has unique aspects, requiring consideration of a complex array of changing conditions, including high cavity temperatures, steep thermal gradients, and stress fields obtained during and after the burn process. In the context of the site stratigraphy, structure and hydrogeology, risk models must evaluate the permeability changes from cavity development and collapse as well as the effects of changes in buoyancy, thermal and mechanical forces on the transport of organic and inorganic contaminants. Operational variables (e.g., temperature, feed gas composition) also impact the amount and nature of contaminants produced and groundwater flow directions. Furthermore, subsequent use of the cavity for CO2 sequestration will impact the mobility of byproducts and will alter risk.
The longer-term issue is carbon management. LLNL suggests that because the UCG syngas reaches the surface at elevated pressure and high temperature, decarbonization may proceed at reduced—or in some cases, extremely low—cost. LLNL has begun to investigate both traditional and novel means of UCG decarbonization as part of an integrated energy and environmental strategy.
LLNL is carrying out a research program aimed at investigating the key processes and mechanisms of CO2 storage risk. The lab has also signed a MOU with ErgoExergy to look for appropriate opportunities to conduct lab- and field-based investigations on this subject.
Ergo Exergy contributed to the initial work at Linc Energy’s Chinchilla project in Australia. (Earlier post.) Ergo Exergy technology is also being used in the first Underground Coal Gasification plant in Africa, which started operation in January 2007.
BP has experience and extensive activities managing and producing coal-bed methane and other gas resources, using technologies and expertise in seismic interpretation, directional drilling and fracturing techniques.
Resources: LLNL Capabilities in Underground Coal Gasification Best Practices in Underground Coal Gasification (LLNL)
Rest In Peace, old friend, your work is finished.......
If you want on or off the DIESEL ”KnOcK” LIST just FReepmail me........
This is a fairly HIGH VOLUME ping list on some days......
Coal energy ping!........
Just to show how ill educated the global warming crowd is ....
They are dead set against more coal burning plants. They have really prevented some new coal fueled electricity generating capacity
They will not rail against new gas burning plants for electricity though
The amount of CO2 (alleged greenhouse gas) is the same whether you burn natural gas or burn coal to make electricity.
This is how stooopid the Al Gore worshippers are
Did they ever stop to think (of course not) THAT ALL THAT CARBON IN THE COAL AND OIL AND NATURAL GASSES WAS ONCE IN THE ATMOSPHERE!............
Aren’t I correct that to make electricity, you can burn oil, coal, natural gas but you will release the same amount of CO2 into the atmosphere
Duke Energy is building a coal-fired plant in southern Indiana. The “greens” came door to door in my neighborhood saying “Duke doesn’t need our money to build the plant; let them build it with their own money.” Huh? Where does “their” money come from? I sent them packing.
They also approached our Town Manager with a request that the Town of Fishers support their opposition, which is based on “greenhouse gas” emissions. So far, no inclination of support.
Walter Williams is so right; Watermelons!!!!!
On the coal gasification, I say go forward with it. You think the Chinese care about the CO2 emissions? Why should we?
BTW Walt Williams hosting Limbaugh today
Coal is an American product. Not imported!!! I’m a big booster of burning and gasifying more and more coal
I’ll definitely tune in then! Walt is my favorite Rush substitute!
As for the coal, I believe the US still has the largest known reserves. Why not use it? Sure, we might tear up some land, but land can be reclaimed.
I’ve read somewhere that gasification for gasoline purposes is currently economical at around $8 per gallon. But with research leading to technological improvements and after infrastructure costs are paid, the cost should drop.
Yes, I know about the tragedy of Centralia, but it’s not the only place on earth where this is happening. There are about a hundred Centralias all over the globe, mostly in China.........
When you burn oil or natural gas, some of the energy you get is from the hydrogen. When you burn coal, it's basically pure carbon. Coal gives you more CO2 per BTU.
I guess math and chemistry are hard for you. LOL!
Coal, yes. There are theories that oil was formed when the planet was, not as a result of dead plant and animal matter that was buried and transformed by heat and pressure.
I prefer Fischer-Tropsch for diesel for the fantastic turbo-diesel engines that will dominate,
I prefer Fischer-Tropsch for diesel for the fantastic turbo-diesel engines that will dominate.
Yes. I’ve heard the theory that the Petro oil deposits are really methane gas that was here from the beginning and has been transformed by immense heat and pressure into oil. There were never enough plants and animals on the earth, even if you collected them all for a billion years, to make as much oil as is in those deposits............
I hadn't heard that about methane. I was thinking more along the lines of carbonaceous chondrite meteors. If hydrocarbons are found in some meteors, why couldn't some portion of the Earth have been formed from similar ingredients?
Methane is one of the most common gasses in the solar system. If you put methane in a container and pressurize it and heat it to high temps, it becomes a crude form of......well,... crude.............
Please add me to the ping list. Thanks!
Gracias idiota!
Done!......
Earth: Hey! You can light a fart!........
Too bad you are so abysmally clueless on trade deficits. And one reason it’s very good to exploit our coal reserves is we can reduce our trade deficit. Energy imports are a fast growing component of our trade deficit
Still waiting for your proof that deficits are bad. Or that surpluses are good.
And one reason it’s very good to exploit our coal reserves is we can reduce our trade deficit.
I agree. One less dollar sent to those assholes in the Mid East is a good thing. Let's build a couple hundred more nuke plants too.
Good we agree on something and don’t forget Hugo Chavez another major pest as far as our energy security
When you gotta go, you GOTTA GO!......
Take him out, because he’s dangerous, not because we have a deficit with his country.
The religion of Man Made Global Warming has not converted my brain into Mush yet.
I don’t care about the amount of CO2 released, I don’t care about my Carbon Footprint matter of fact we are all Carbon Based Life forms, the more CO2 in the atmosphere the better I like it.
TT
You bet. Anything that makes my peppers and tomatoes bigger is okay with me.
Got an entire Planet to feed, and most of us like peppers and tomatoes!
TT
Squirrel is pretty good with tomatoes and peppers, mesquite smoke, wrapped in a couple strips of bacon...
TT
No it does not. High temperatures and pressures break complex hydrocarbon molecules down into simpler, smaller molecules, not form more complex one. The 2nd law of thermodynamics remains regardless of temperature and pressure. Don't fall for the abiotic claims without looking into what actually is required to happen.
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