Technologies capture coal for cleaner fuels

Australia is rich in coal resources, but relies on imported oil products for its transportation energy needs. Linc Energy’s combined underground coal gasification (UCG) and gas to liquids (GTL) technologies could provide an opportunity for Australia to produce its own liquid fuels and bolster the nation’s energy security.

UCG converts coal, deep underground, into a synthesis gas containing carbon dioxide and hydrogen. Without the need for conventional mining, UCG is claimed to be an economical and environmentally sound approach to energy recovery from stranded coal. Linc Energy has been conducting UCG operations at its Chinchilla Demonstration Facility for about 10 years. The facility is located about 300 km west of Brisbane.

Linc Energy combines its UCG technology with the GTL process. It is the combination of UCG and GTL technologies that makes Linc Energy’s vision for the production of cleaner transportation fuels unique. Aboveground, the UCG-produced synthesis gas is fed through a GTL processing facility. A Fischer-Tropsch process produces high-quality, synthetic hydrocarbons for the production of cleaner transport fuels, such as diesel and jet fuel, with zero sulfur.

Linc Energy achieved the combination of its UCG and GTL technologies on 14 October 2008 and is firmly on the path towards the commercialisation of its combined technologies. With resources in Queensland and South Australia, its active drilling and exploration program seeks to identify and prove UCG-suitable resources. An intensive program is underway in South Australia to determine a suitable commercial UCG to GTL location.

Linc Energy is also trialling UCG projects in Vietnam and the United States. In Vietnam, the Red River Delta is a region in much need of power supply. UCG synthesis gas is an ideal feedstock for gas turbine combined cycle power generation. In the US, Linc Energy recently acquired coal tenements in Wyoming’s Powder River Basin where UCG trial operations will take place.

Combined UCG and GTL technologies and the products generated present an interesting alternative energy solution for Australia and other suitable locations around the world.