POWER July 2011 - 38

CLEAN COAL TECHNOLOGY
The Controlled Retractable
Injection Point Method
The modern CRIP techniques use a combination
of conventional and directional drilling
techniques to drill and complete both
the injection and production wells, Courtney
pointed out. The vertical section of the CRIP
module injection well is drilled to a predetermined
depth, after which directional drilling
is used to deviate the hole and drill along, and
at bottom of, the coal seam.
" With the CRIP technique, the location of
the injection point can be precisely controlled
and retracted back along the bottom of the
coal seam, " he noted. " This is of benefit because
it allows for fresh coal to be accessed
each time the syngas quality drops as a result
of cavity maturation. "
The main difference between the linear
and parallel CRIP methods is in the production
well design:
■ The linear CRIP concept uses a vertical
production well located at least 500 m
from the deviated injection well. The inseam
section of the injection well is drilled
such that it intersects the production well.
■ The parallel CRIP method uses a deviated
in-seam production well drilled
parallel to the injection well with an interwell
spacing of around 30 m. The two
wells are deviated at a predetermined
in-seam length toward a third vertically
drilled ignition well, which is used to
initiate gasification.
Gasification efficiency drops as the UCG
reactor grows because more and more of the
barren roof rock is exposed, which conducts
heat away from the reactor and impacts
syngas quality, Courtney said. The CRIP
method allows for the injection point to be
retracted back within the coal seam when
the efficiency drops.
" The large spacing between the injection
and production wells also means that fewer
boreholes are required to gasify a certain
volume of coal, and so the CRIP methods
have a smaller surface impact than LVW
methods, " he said.
Coal Gasification Pilot Projects
Around the world, there are five notable underground coal gasification
projects in various stages of development that are worth
watching.
Linc Energy Ltd.: Chinchilla Pilot Project,
Queensland, Australia
Linc has had a " demonstration " UCG project at Chinchilla, Queensland,
Australia since the late 1990s. Syngas was first produced
in December 1999, and production continued thereafter for two
years. Since then, Linc has developed three additional modules at
Chinchilla. Module 3 was commissioned in 2007 in tandem with
its gas-to-liquids (GTL) demonstration plant that has successfully
produced synthetic fuels. (Peter Bond, Linc's managing director,
recently completed a 6,000-mile journey across Australia in a car
fueled by synthetic diesel from Linc's GTL plant.) Module 3 is now
exhausted, but Module 4 is currently producing syngas and is expected
to last for another two years.
Linc now owns over 75% of the Uzbek UCG company, Yerostigaz,
which has been operating the world's oldest UCG project at Angren,
Uzbekistan. This project has been continuously producing UCG syngas
for a local electric power station for more than 40 years.
Carbon Energy Ltd.: Bloodwood Creek Project,
Queensland, Australia
In October 2008, Carbon Energy successfully produced syngas from
its unique UCG module based on the parallel controlled retractable
injection point (CRIP) method. The trial, which ran for 100 days,
reached coal gasification rates of around 150 tons per day and
produced a high-quality syngas. Since then, Carbon Energy has
installed two more modules and constructed a 5-MW electric power
38
plant to be fed with syngas from Module 2. Module 1 is being carefully
decommissioned.
Plans for scaling up to 25 MW of electricity generation are under
way, and a second project in Queensland, known as the Blue Gum
Energy Park, is also in the early stages of planning.
Swan Hills Synfuels: Alberta, Canada
Swan Hills Synfuels recently produced syngas from its pilot project
in Alberta, Canada. This project is the deepest UCG pilot ever
undertaken, at a depth of 1,400 meters, and is using the linear
controlled retractable injection point method.
ENN Group Co. Ltd.: Inner Mongolia, China
The ENN Group Co. Ltd. (a subsidiary of the Xinao company) produced
syngas from a pilot project in Walanchabi City, Inner Mongolia,
China, for 26 months, gasifying more than 100,000 tons of coal.
Although not much information has been made available about this
project, it is known that there were initially seven injection and
production wells, which were first fired in October 2007 using air.
ENN is now in its fourth year of operation at the plant.
Eskom: Majuba, South Africa
The Majuba UCG project has been producing syngas since January
2007 and began delivering UCG syngas to cofire with coal at the
Majuba Power Station in late 2010. The project contributes about
3 MW to the overall output of 650 MW from the electric power station
using the linked vertical well method. This project is now the
longest running UCG trial in the western world. Plans are in place
to expand the facilities to 1,200 MWe output, with 30% of the
plant's fuel provided by syngas.
www.powermag.com
POWER | July 2011
Furthermore, as the CRIP methods do not
rely on natural coal permeability to create
the linkage, this method can be used at great
depths (1,400 m deep has been achieved at
the Swan Hills project in Alberta, Canada),
significantly increasing the resource base for
UCG around the world.
Syngas Cost Comparison
The cost of producing syngas on a per unit
energy basis is very closely linked to a number
of key variables, and so it is not really
possible to give one overall figure appropriate
for all UCG projects, Courtney explained.
One of the most important variables is
coal seam thickness. This is because the cost
of producing syngas is linked closely to the
cost of installing a module, and so the more
coal a module can gasify, which is a function
of coal seam thickness, the lower the costs to
produce syngas.
" It is possible to give a rough idea of
costs for specific projects, so the UCGA
recently produced a price comparison with
other energy-producing technologies in re
http://www.powermag.com

POWER July 2011

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of POWER July 2011

Contents
POWER July 2011 - Cover1
POWER July 2011 - Cover2
POWER July 2011 - Contents
POWER July 2011 - 2
POWER July 2011 - 3
POWER July 2011 - 4
POWER July 2011 - 5
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POWER July 2011 - 7
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