Sarhosis, V orcid.org/0000-0002-8604-8659, Lavis, S, Mostade, M et al. (1 more author) (2017) Towards commercialising underground coal gasification in the EU. Environmental Geotechnics, 4 (2). pp. 113-122. ISSN 2051-803X
Abstract
Modern ‘enabling technologies’ and over a century of research and development have pushed underground coal gasification (UCG) beyond the proof-of-concept phase. Lessons learned from previous trials have demonstrated that UCG can exploit the energy stored in coal efficiently and with limited environmental impact compared with conventional coal-based energy technologies. Many countries in the EU (and worldwide) struggle to meet their energy needs despite containing very large reserves of coal, which cannot be exploited conventionally because of its depth. Application of modern UCG techniques, state-of-the-art drilling and monitoring technologies offer the opportunity to extract the energy from deep coal resources economically and with limited environmental impacts; however, several hurdles, such as public opinion and carbon dioxide (CO2) emission limits, must be overcome before UCG can be commercialised in the EU. Continued support by member states will attract more private investments, enable more field trials and allow Europe’s world-class UCG experts to demonstrate that the technology is ready to provide cleaner energy from coal for the EU in the twenty-first century. This is a review paper that aims to summarise the lessons learned from UCG trials and EU-sponsored work and to discuss what still needs to be done to commercialise UCG.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © ICE Publishing, all rights reserved. This is an author produced version of a paper published in Environmental Geotechnics. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy. |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Engineering & Physical Sciences (Leeds) > School of Civil Engineering (Leeds) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 05 Apr 2019 15:18 |
Last Modified: | 13 Jun 2019 21:09 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Thomas Telford |
Identification Number: | 10.1680/jenge.15.00044 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:144602 |