UNDERGROUND COAL GASIFICATION

Underground Coal Gasification (UCG) is to burn coal underground, gasify it into gas, and transport it to the ground as an energy or chemical raw material. It is especially suitable for coal seams that cannot be mined, and secondary or multiple recovery of coal mines. The product gas can be transported through pipelines, or it can be directly used for gas power generation or chemical synthesis.

Underground Coal Gasification (UCG) is a comprehensive energy production technology that integrates multidisciplinary science, involving geology, hydrology, drilling technology, ignition and combustion control technology, product gas processing and utilisation technology, and ecological environmental protection technology. The complexity of the series of technologies far exceeds the process of surface gasification, which also increases the risk.

At present, coal underground gasification (UCG) technology has achieved a small number of commercial applications in a few countries, and Russia, the United States, Britain, Germany, Australia, Japan and China have mastered some key technologies in this field to varying degrees.

Compared with surface coal gasification, underground coal gasification has many advantages, such as a basic construction investment program, short construction period, simple process, high production efficiency, high coal recycling rate, low production cost, and no three-discharge efflux problems.

China is a country that is “rich in coal, low in gas and lack of oil”. For a long time, China's energy structure was dominated by coal, and the choice of low-carbon energy resources was very limited. Extensive development in clean energy such as coal-to-gas, changes traditional coal production and consumption patterns, and promotes the transformation of the coal industry, which will solve China's increasingly prominent energy safety and environmental problems.