Assessment of Underground Coal Gasification in Bituminous Coals: Research and Development Programs and Preliminary Field Testing Designs. Final Report, Phase III

摘要

Development of a new technology is expedited by an overall plan which defines objectives, charts the path to achieve those objectives, and estimates the overall costs and scheduling of the work. The programs which follow are offered as alternatives in order of perceived relative potential for success. Three concepts will be developed in three separate R and D programs. Each of the programs will include a preliminary field test design in each category. The concepts to be developed are as follows: Open Borehole, Hydraulic Fracturing, and Electrolinking. The R and D programs will include work at two levels: laboratory or bench scale and field tests at a potential UCG site. Costs of each R and D program will include a detailed cost breakdown of each preliminary field test. This volume is divided into general and specific categories: the General Topics section includes a discussion of the concerns of UCG regardless of the linking procedure used to initiate gasification; Site Selection and Development and Environmental Concerns common to any UCG project. The specific programs start in Section 5.3 with the Open Borehole concept. Hydraulic Fracturing and Electrolinking concepts are presented in Sections 5.4 and 5.5, respectively. The overall objective is to develop UCG technology in bituminous coal to the point that industry will be willing to accept the risk of proceeding with commercial development. (ERA citation 07:049008)