Status of Underground Coal Gasification (UCG) as a Commercial Technology. Peter Dryburgh Wardell Armstrong International

Transcription

1 Status of Underground Coal Gasification (UCG) as a Commercial Technology Peter Dryburgh Wardell Armstrong International 1

2 Wardell Armstrong Group: Independent partnership founded in 1837 Annual turnover of 28m 10 offices in the UK International offices in Almaty & Moscow ca. 400 professional and technical staff Multidisciplinary practice Planning & Environmental Civil & Structural Ground engineering Metal mining Coal mining and Clean Coal (I am head of the Coal Group)

3 Wardell Armstrong Group: office locations United Kingdom: Edinburgh Carlisle Leigh Newcastle Upon Tyne Sheffield Stoke-On-Trent Cardiff West Bromwich, Birmingham London Truro, Cornwall Edinburgh Newcastle Upon Tyne Carlisle Leigh Sheffield Stoke-On-Trent West Bromwich International Offices: Moscow, Russia Almaty, Kazakhstan Cardiff Truro London

4 MY TALK WILL COVER WHAT IS UCG? HISTORY TECHNOLOGIES WHO IS DOING WHAT? STATUS OF THE TECHNOLOGY

5 WHAT IS UCG? HISTORY TECHNOLOGIES WHO IS DOING WHAT? STATUS OF THE TECHNOLOGY

6 UNDERGROUND COAL GASIFICATION (UCG) - What is it? Partial Oxidation of a coal seam in-situ Pairs of boreholes are drilled and a connection is made between them Oxidant (air/o 2 + steam) pumped down borehole Coal is ignited and product gas, syngas flows up the second hole

7 WHAT IS SYNGAS? Mixture of CO and H 2 Subsidiary CO 2, H 2 O, CH 4 Plus N 2 if the oxidant is air CV varies from around 35% of natural gas if oxygen blown to10% if air-blown

8 WHAT USES ARE THERE FOR THE SYNGAS? There are many alternatives commercial decision as to what is best

9 TYPES OF REACTION When coal is heated in the gasification process the following take place as temperatures rise Drying moisture driven off Pyrolysis very complex set of reactions involving driving off volatile material, breaking carbon bonds, release of tars Gasification/ Combustion o Combustion near the injection well provides the energy for the process o Most of the gasification reactions are endothermic

10 REACTIONS OCCUR IN DIFFERENT PARTS OF THE CHAMBER Source: IEA Clean Coal Centre C + O 2 = CO 2 C + ½ O 2 = CO CO + ½ O 2 = CO 2 CO 2 + C = 2 CO C + H 2 O = H 2 + CO

11 THE PRIZE IS POTENTIALLY VAST - Security of Energy Supply More environmentally acceptable use of coal Access to some of 85% of coal reserves unavailable for conventional mining Ability to produce fuel, power or chemicals

12 UCG IS NOT AN UNCONTROLLED MINE FIRE In several locations world-wide underground mine fires are resisting attempts to put them out e.g. Daw Mill recently This only happens where there is free access to oxygen

13 UCG IS NOT CBM - Differences and Similarities CBM Drills holes into unmined coal seams Fracks the coal using oilfield techniques Pumps groundwater, often saline, to reduce hydrostatic pressure releasing adsorbed methane from the coal cleats. Recovers 2-5% of the contained energy in the seam UCG Drills holes into unmined coal seams Establishes linkages between the two holes no fracking Does not pump out groundwater unless for local control as high hydrostatic pressure is important Recovers 50 70% of the contained energy in the seam

14 WHAT IS UCG? HISTORY TECHNOLOGIES WHO IS DOING WHAT? STATUS OF THE TECHNOLOGY

15 UCG HISTORY 1912 Co. Durham UK (First Test) 1930 s Intensive Soviet Development 1950/60 s Early European Trials 1970/80 s US Programme - 6 Major Trials 1980 s European Studies and First Trial Early 1990 s First US commercial designs Mid to late 1990 s El Tremedal, Spain European Trial Start of DTI UCG Initiative ( ) 2000 on - Rise of Australian commercial projects

16 WHAT IS UCG? HISTORY TECHNOLOGIES WHO IS DOING WHAT? STATUS OF THE TECHNOLOGY

17 WHAT IS THE CURRENT STATE OF PLAY? - UCG Designs 5 20 m 1. Vertical wells linked by hydraulic fractures and/or reverse combustion 2. Vertical wells linked by an in-seam borehole Source: CSIRO

18 WHAT IS THE CURRENT STATE OF PLAY? - UCG Designs > 100 m m 3. Using Controlled Retraction Injection Point (CRIP) with a vertical well > 100 m 4. Using CRIP with parallel in-seam wells (Knife Edge CRIP) Source: CSIRO, In steeply dipping seams

19 WHAT IS THE CURRENT STATE OF PLAY? - Drilling techniques are key to success Mitchell Energy

20 WHAT IS THE CURRENT STATE OF PLAY? - Carbon Energy keyseam Design

21 WHAT IS THE CURRENT STATE OF PLAY? - Carbon Energy keyseam Design

22 WHAT IS UCG? HISTORY TECHNOLOGIES WHO IS DOING WHAT? STATUS OF THE TECHNOLOGY

23 WHAT IS HAPPENING AROUND THE WORLD - April 2013

24 WHAT IS HAPPENING AROUND THE WORLD - The main international players

25 WHAT ACTIVITY ARE WE SEEING IN THE UK? - Something is stirring CA licence applications all offshore (nearshore) 3 under the Firth of Forth, Scotland 8 off E coast of England 4 off W coast of England 2 off S Wales coast All within the last 6 36 months but no real progress to date UCG Licence Applications BCG Energy Ltd UCG Licence Applications Clean Coal Ltd. UCG Licence Applications Riverside Energy UCG Licence Application Europa Oil & Gas

26 WHAT IS UCG? HISTORY TECHNOLOGIES WHO IS DOING WHAT? STATUS OF THE TECHNOLOGY

27 What is the current status of UCG? Depends who you are talking to

28 What is the current status of UCG? Depends who you are talking to Cautious View Despite 50 years of trials no commercial UCG project has been demonstrated. There has been a great deal of recent progress with pilot projects showing considerable promise and the current pilots could result in commercial operations within five to seven years, providing greatly increased confidence in the technology Gordon Couch, IEA Clean Coal Centre- October 2009

29 What is the current business status of UCG? Depends who you are talking to Positive Conceptual Study Identifies Commercial Scale UCG Opportunities in Australia Comprehensive study identifies economically viable, commercial scale UCG opportunities at Bloodwood Creek. Ammonia and Synthetic Natural Gas (SNG) production identified as the most economically attractive downstream products. Existing syngas Reserve is sufficient to support the production of approximately 2,200 tonnes of Ammonia per day or 25PJ of SNG per annum for 25 years. Results based on successful trial data gathered from 5 years of in-field operations. Carbon Energy ASX Announcement 14 June 2013

30 You don t know what you don t know! - Financing of UCG projects has been (very) challenging Industry norms will be important in development of UCG Much needs to be known before UCG is seen as just another (financiable) mining method? Balance is between Companies/ institutions with significant investment in IP and rightly wish to use this for commercial gain Sharing information so that others can conduct independent advice AND move the whole technology to a new level of acceptance

31 SOME ISSUES OF CONCERN Groundwater Groundwater contamination potential is a key factor in UCG environmental permitting in all jurisdictions Regulators/public need comfort no contamination will happen Modelling contaminant dispersion will be vital Depth is good The Kingaroy trial site closure has not helped the industry UCG in the bubble UK DTI

32 Figure Distribution 21: Distribution of permeability of permeability enhancement following following UCG [Kelly, UCG [Kelly, 2002] 2002] SOME ISSUES OF CONCERN Subsidence Conventional wisdom is that subsidence is similar to an underground mine Cavities will generally be smaller so less effect Work needed to confirm this with actual monitoring Depth is good Sharing of results will help create track record more quickly Limit lateral effect De stressed strata extends m above workings De stressed strata extends 60-80m below workings Angle of draw Intact Zone Continuous Deformation Zone Fractured Zone Caved Zone Fractured Zone Deformation Zone Intact Zone Kelly 2002 COAL COAL COAL COAL Area taken for gas reserve calculation Worked coal caved workings COAL

33 SOME ISSUES OF CONCERN Politics and Public Perception Politics The acceptable face of coal mining? Problems in overcoming an anti-coal sentiment in many developed countries CCS implications Level of knowledge about the fundamentals of energy among policy and opinion makers Public Perception NUMBY? Need to engage public early and positively Perception of an underground coal fire

34 CONCLUSION So in answer to what is the current status of UCG as a commercial technology - UCG offers the potential to extract very large amounts of energy from currently uneconomic coal seams. Several aspects of the technology need to be more widely understood before it can be fully considered a commercial and financiable technology.

35 THE END THANK YOU