In recent years, rising oil prices have made the public curious as to whether this is the only way to fuel their cars. Considering all the technology available today, you’d think that at least one oil-deprived country would find an alternative way to get gasoline. Few people are happy with the costs and inconvenience of having to import oil from other countries, except perhaps the owners of the oil themselves. Therefore, there is a lot of motivation to develop an alternative fuel source. What many members of the public don’t understand is that there are a lot of ideas out there, some of which actually make sense. Underground coal gasification, or UCG, could be exactly what we need.
UCG is as natural as it gets, combining our natural resources like coal with smart technology. The process begins with the drilling of two holes on the surface above the coal, known as a coal seam. Air is pumped through the first pit and the coal is ignited until it reaches extremely high temperatures. This heat creates a mixture of carbon dioxide, hydrogen, carbon monoxide, and small amounts of hydrogen sulfide and methane. Oxidizers are introduced through the first well, guiding this new syngas, or syngas, through the second well. The final step is for the syngas to be filtered to create a clean fuel, free of impurities such as carbon dioxide or sulfur.
Any problems that the UCG process may have have been solved by its creators. For example, some environmentalists are concerned about the carbon dioxide generated by the UCG procedure. However, there is no need to worry, as proponents of the process assure that the substance will never touch the atmosphere. This is because the UCG process creates a cavity below the surface where solid carbon once was, and since it is now empty, it is the perfect place for carbon dioxide storage. The gas is filtered before it rises to the surface, so a crisis can be avoided simply because the process is taking place underground. This probably sounds cool, but one might wonder who the creators of UCG are.
The idea of UCG has been around since the late 19th century, when Sir William Siemens assumed that the process could remove any waste or unusable carbon. Dmitri Mendeleyev, a Russian chemist, came up with the idea, and experiments were soon carried out in the early 20th century in the UK, under the watchful eye of Sir William Ramsay. World Wars I and II effectively shut down any further research with UCG, although the USSR’s Stalin initiated funding during that time to experiment with the process. Although further research was delayed by World War II, at the end of World War II the Soviets again experimented with UCG, leading to 14 underground coal gasification plants in the 1960s.
When few people understand a unique idea, but see a need for it, they often continue to investigate it. However, when they don’t understand it or see the need for it, they often ignore it or shut it down. Although scientists had made great progress with UCG in the 1960s, at that time there was no energy crisis like the one immediately after World War II. Oil prices were low, as there was plenty, so interest in an alternative energy source waned in Europe. However, the US wanted its turn with UCG and worked in the 1970s and 1980s with field trials.
In 1989, the United Kingdom, Belgium, and Spain decided to participate in trials that would prove or disprove the commercial viability of UCG. Despite interest from these countries, China has the largest program, consisting of 16 trials. The country that played a major role in the development of UCG most recently is Australia, which boasted the successful underground gasification of 35,000 tons of coal between the years 1999 and 2003, without environmental repercussions.
Clearly, several large countries have expressed renewed or entirely new interest in the technology behind UCG. However, the fact that some countries are finally joining the interest does not make UCG a new idea. This alternative method of obtaining energy has been around for more than a hundred years, passing various tests and milestones. It was about time the rest of the world took notice of this unique and viable method of obtaining clean fuel.