T166 Clean Coal: Can It Be a Reality?
Tuesday, 20 October 2009
8:00 AM - 12:00 PM
B114/115
UNDERGROUND COAL GASIFICATION PROCESS COUPLED WITH ON-SITE CARBON STORAGE AND ENHANCED HYDROCARBON RECOVERY IN NORTH DAKOTA WILLISTON BASIN
Paper number: T166-4
Program: Technical Sessions
Time: 8:35 AM – 8:50 AM
Authors
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Peng PeiUniversity of North Dakota, Grand Forks, ND
Abstract
Underground coal gasification (UCG) is a promising clean coal technology which directly converts coal into syngas in the coal bed. Compared with the conventional mining process, the UCG can utilize coal reserves that are too deep to be mined economically, and convert the coal reserves into high rank energy with a higher rate, lower cost and smaller land occupation. The produced syngas from UCG can be used as town gas, feed material for other chemical products, or generate electricity in a on-site combined cycle (CC) power generation system, Similar to the integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC).When the produced syngas is used in the on-site combined cycle, free CO2 emission is realized by incorporating with the carbon capture and storage (CCS) process. The CO2 can be captured by a pre-combustion capture system. The captured CO2 is then injected into the adjacent coal beds which are unsuitable for the UCG utilization, similar to enhanced coal bed methane recovery (ECBM) process. Besides, the cavities created by UCG process and existing boreholes and hydraulic fractures may also provide extra potential CO2 storage capacity in addition to those of the conventional storage methods. Therefore, the UCG-CC-CCS may offer a cost effective and clean way to exploit the potential of the abundant global coal reserves. This study will aim at developing a roadmap on the feasibility study of the UCG and CO2 storage potential in North Dakota Williston Basin.