Underground Coal Gasification (UCG) Tribhuban Chandra Patra

1. Introduction
Underground Coal Gasification (UCG) is a process to convert underground Coal/ Lignite into combustible gases in-situ such as carbon-monooxide, hydrogen & methane; and non-combustibles gases. This is achieved by igniting and partially oxidizing the coal injecting air or oxygen with water or steam in the coal seam. The gases thus produced can be utilized as fuel gas for power generation or as a feed- stock for liquid fuels and chemicals. The mixture of CO and H 2 called syngas is the starting point of SYNFUEL technology. UCG is a new method of coal deposits development by underground direct coal conversion into gas. Though UCG was initially thought of for deeper coal seams, as the only feasible technology for economic exploitation in an environmentally friendly manner, the pilots world wide have demonstrated it to be technology for shallow coal seams as well abandoned ones with residual coal pillars.

2.

World Scenario
Soviet Russia for decades has utilized UCG reactors to provide low heating value gases for local use, for industrial fuel gas and for power generation. United States has established as UCG a low cost resource of medium heating value gases and/ or chemical feed stock. A number of other countries like UK, France, Italy, Belgium, Spain, Australia, etc, have attempted to implement this technology. The achievements of UCG in these countries have been confined to gasification of shallow coal seams generally less than 500 m. The Federal Republic of Germany shared a field experiment with the kingdom of Belgium in order to establish the feasibility of UCG at greater depth i.e. 860 m. China has the largest ongoing UCG programme currently underway. 16 trials have been carried out or currently operating since the late 1980s. The work uses abandoned galleries of disused coalmines for the gasification.

3.

UCG in Indian Context

In pursuance of development of additional resources of energy, UCG has great potential in India. Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Ltd while drilling in

search of hydrocarbons, discovered large reserves of coal at depths more than 600 m. In Gujarat alone, these coal reserves have been estimated to be around 63 Billion Tons in Mehsana-Ahmedabad block and 60 Billion Tons in Patan-Tharad block. The recoverable energy from coal reserves of Mehsana-Ahmedabad block of 63 Billion Tons alone in the form of gas is estimated to be equivalent to 15000 BCM of natural gas (which is more than 70 times free gas reserves of ONGC). Even if a fraction of it is realized, it will go a long way to meet our energy needs. That is why, UCG needs more attention as it has tremendous potential and high rewards. In view of large potential associated with the coal reserves, it is planned to carry out pilot so that the process can be developed which would be useful in converting the huge reserves. A break through in this technology would give a fillip to global energy scenario in general and Indian energy sector in particular in formulating plans and optimal energy mix.

4.

Actions Undertaken
It was planned to have R&D collaborations with reputed Indian institutes. An MOU with IIT Bombay has already been signed. An MOU with GSPC has been signed on 28th September 2003. This MOU is intended to recognize the general basis for a long-term cooperative and collaborative working relationship. GSPC will be ONGCs partners in R&D work as well field experimentation and pilot for Underground Coal gasification. ONGC was on the lookout for Institutes having expertise in the field implementation of UCG technology. One such Institute, NMRCSkochinsky Institute of Mining (SIM), Russia having expertise in the field of UCG was approached. The Russian experts visited ONGC for one week during June 2004. A MOU/AOC is being formulated with SIM, under which detailed pilot work would be taken up. Following elaborate discussions of the Russian experts, it was concluded that initially the process of UCG might be applied to shallow coals in India. For establishing UCG stations in shallow levels, areas where Coal India Limited (CIL) is operating need to be accessed. With this in view an appointment with the Chairman of CIL was sought. On 9th July 2004, during the appointment with Chairman & Managing Director of CIL, Mr. Shashikumar, the topic of UCG was discussed across the table. He was convinced about the need of carrying out UCG with ONGC on experimental basis at the earliest. He was impressed with several features of working conditions and environment like greener and cleaner technique of UCG. He promised a positive response to ONGCs request after presenting the case to the Board of CIL in their next meeting. For this

purpose it is necessary to sign an MOU with CIL. After signing MOU with CIL large number of sites spread over various states would be available for site selection.