UCG Engineering Ltd

The Underground Coal Gasification Process

Underground coal gasification (UCG) is the in-situ gasification of coal in the seam. It is achieved by injecting oxidants, gasifying the coal and bringing the product gas to surface through boreholes drilled from the surface. The gas is used for power generation, industrial heating or as chemical feedstock.UCG Engineering Ltd has recently undertaken reviews of the technilogy and provided designs of underground configurations for demnonstration and commercial applications.
UCG was first developed as a large-scale gas production process in the 1960's and recently trial schemes have been evaluated in many other countries including China, India Australia, South Africa, the USA and the UK. The revival of interest in UCG is a direct result of improved technology, security of supply and a realisation that gas from underground coal gasification offers substantial cost reductions for production and CO2 capture.
Reviews of the technology, field trials and assessments of the potential resources for UCG have been undertaken in most coal producing countries. At least half a dozen coal fields and basins around the world are the subject of studies, pre-commercial trials and it is known that project expenditure on UCG has increased markedly in 2007.

Latest News
date  01-11-2009

• Dr Michael Green appointed Board Director of Clean Global Energy Ltd. (October 2009)
• UCG Engineering has contracts for development projects in Australia, Eastern Europe, UK, and India
• UCG Engineering Ltd is part of the consortium to explore nearshore UCG in the UK
• Recent presentations have included the UCG Summit (October 09), Imperial College Training Course (September 09) and the International Conference of  the UCG Ppartenership (February 2009).
• The EC project to investigate hydrogen production from underground gasification (HUGE) is now in its final stages and deu for completion on time in July 2010. We are involved as EC contractors for the study and chair the Steering Group.