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Written by Tom Vulcan  |

October 31, 2011

Underground Coal Gasification: An Old Energy Revolution Whose Time Has Come

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Energy generation technique is nearly 100 years old, but potential mostly untapped.

“The world-famous British chemist, William Ramsay, has discovered a method of obtaining gas directly from a coal seam.”

     —V.I. Ulyanov (Lenin) A Great Technical Achievement, Pravda, April 21, 1913, pg. 91

So, writing in exile as he was, what exactly was Lenin writing about? And why did he consider it such an achievement? One, he thought, that “will bring about an enormous revolution in industry.”

Now, more than 98 years after Lenin penned his article for Pravda, perhaps underground coal gasification may finally be on course to bring about such a revolution. But, if it does, it will be a “revolution” in the world of energy generation as opposed, as Lenin envisaged it under socialism, to releasing the labor of millions of miners.

What Is Underground Coal Gasification?

Underground coal gasification (UCG) converts coal, in situ underground, into gas.

The gas so produced can then be used in a number of important ways, including: 

• For generating power
• For industrial heating
• As chemical feedstock
• A source of hydrogen

Short History Of UCG

As can be seen from the quotations from Lenin above, UCG has been around a long time. Indeed, the concept was first developed in mid-19^th-century London, with the aforementioned William Ramsay all set to start his own work on UCG in the north of England when World War I ended his efforts.

While testing in the U.K. may not have recommenced until the 1950s, this did not stop the erstwhile Soviet Union from taking up the UCG baton.

Following various successful and unsuccessful tests during the 1930s, in 1939 the Soviets had their first UCG plant up and running, at Lisichansk, the Donbass coalfield, in Ukraine. Subsequently, though, it shut down during World War II. By the end of the 1960s, however, there were some 14 working UCG plants in the former Soviet Union; apart from Lisichansk, the four main were: 

• Angren, Uzbekistan
• Gorlovka, Ukraine
• Podmoskova, Moscow basin
• Yuzhno-Abinsk, the Kuzbass coalfield, Russia

Perhaps surprisingly, the rest of the world took up the UCG baton pretty much only after the middle of the 20^th century. Apart from some trials in Europe at Bois-de-la-Dame, near Wandre in Belgium in 1947 and 1948, and Newman Spinney in Derbyshire in the U.K. from 1949 to 1959, trials in the U.S. only started in the early 1970s, in France in 1981 and Australia, New Zealand and Spain in the mid- to late-1990s.

In China, however, following the establishment of a special UCG unit at the China University of Mining and Technology, trials have been taking place since the 1980s at some 16 different sites, usually disused mines. And, according to the World Coal Association, now “China has about 30 projects in different phases of preparation that use underground coal gasification.”