drilling aug/sept, page-21

Alberta to Host Underground Coal Gasification Demo;

The Government of Alberta, Canada, through the Alberta Energy Research Institute (AERI), is providing C$8.83 million (US$7.0 million) toward a $30-million underground coal gasification (UCG) project with Swan Hills Synfuels of Calgary. Swan Hills Synfuels expects the project to demonstrate the ability to manufacture synthetic gas from Alberta’s coal resources, with the future potential of utilizing the coal seams for carbon capture and storage.

The project in north-central Alberta aims to develop a commercial operation that produces clean, synthesis gas for power generation. The deep formations could also store carbon dioxide after the coal is turned into gas. Underground coal gasification has been used commercially outside of North America for close to 40 years with minimal surface impact when compared to traditional coal mining and production.

In 2007, BP and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) have signed a technical agreement to work cooperatively on the development of UCG technology for the in-situ conversion of coal deposits into fuels and other products. (Earlier post.)

The project with Swan Hills Synfuels LP is the first of its kind in North America to demonstrate coal gasification at depths greater than 1,000 meters below the surface.

In 2008, Swan Hills Synfuels proposed a UCG project at a cost of C$400-600 million with a nameplate capacity of 3910,000 m3/d of syngas and 2,000 t/d of CO2. The facility is targeted to be at Swan Hills, 250 km north of Edmonton, and near the oil sands projects that are scheduled to demand 1 billion ft3/day or more of gas for fuel. Start-up is planned for 2012. The pilot project consists of a single well pair (injection and production).

Underground coal gasification (UCG) is an in-situ process using injection and production wells drilled from the surface, and enables the coal to be converted into a syngas. (Earlier post.) The process is flexible in operation and is capable of producing commercial quantities of gas to be used like natural gas, such as for home-heating chemical feedstock or as fuel for clean power generation.


http://www.ecosilly.com/2009/03/18/alberta-to-host-underground-coal-gasification-demo-update-on-linc-chinchilla-ucg-in-australia/


This could be good for CTP bearing in mind the depths of coal at Blamore.

Assuming we get to drill sometime...lol. That coal ain't going nowhere!