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Solid Energy plans $22m Underground Coal Gasification pilot in Waikato
11 June 2010 - Solid Energy has announced plans to build a $22 million test pilot project to generate gas by gasification of coal deep underground in the Waikato.
Sources: Solid Energy and Lindsay Clark
The company plans to trial the Underground Coal Gasification (UCG) technology which will convert up to 30,000 tonnes of coal into synthetic gas.
Solid Energy said the pilot project will operate for up to two years on private property within the company’s existing Huntly West coal mining licence area.
Work will begin on the proposed plant once consents are granted.
Solid Energy said the successful application of the UCG process will open up access to coal seams which would otherwise be nearly impossible to mine using conventional mining technology.
Solid Energy’s general manager new energy Brett Gamble, said the launch of the pilot plant is the culmination of five years’ investigation by Solid Energy into UCG’s suitability for New Zealand conditions.
Solid Energy is working with Ergo Exergy, a Montreal Canada-based technology supplier which has successfully developed UCG projects in several countries around the world, meeting stringent safety and environmental standards.
The UCG process gasifies coal deep underground (usually between 200 and 800 m), producing syngas to generate electricity, or to make a range of high-value chemical products such as synthetic transport fuel, methanol, fertilisers or waxes, plastics and detergents produce and pure hydrogen.
Mr Gamble says “UCG technology represents a huge opportunity for New Zealand to further ensure our energy security by using our most ample mineral resource, coal.
“This is a safe, credible technology which is carried out deep below the ground yet is fully controlled by operators on the surface."
“An operator pumps air hundreds of metres deep into an ignited coal seam which, when combined with the huge pressure of the earth above it, causes a reaction that turns coal into syngas."
“By controlling the air flow into the seam, the operator regulates the speed of the gasification reaction and, if needed, can put it out rapidly and completely,” Mr Gamble says.
For the Waikato pilot plant, Solid Energy plans to drill up to seven wells about 25 to 50 m apart into an underground coal seam 400 m below the surface.
The company is also installing a number of other wells on site to gather process and environmental data. The surface plant, including wells, is expected to be contained within an area measuring 300 by 150 m.
The pilot plant will yield process, technical and geological information, and verify modelled environmental effects.
Once the required information has been gathered, Solid Energy will shut down the pilot plant. Results from the pilot will determine whether Solid Energy takes the project further to a commercial operation.
L&M Energy, which is a major explorer for coal seam gas, also recently announced it too is interested in underground coal gasification by applying for a Waikato coal prospecting permit that could use the UGC technology.
