Assessing commercial and technical approaches for the advancement of Underground Coal Gasification

With 85% of the world’s coal unmineable, Underground Coal Gasification (UCG) is being seen as one of the most progressive clean coal processes to access deep coal reserves. Globally, a number of projects are underway to explore the commerciality of UCG, with the UK recently being granted the first UCG license in the Southern North Sea.

So what does this mean for the future of clean coal?

UCG is an old concept with a new twist and seen as the most efficient and cost-effective way to use the vast coal reserves without emitting large amounts of carbon into the atmosphere. It has an even greater impact when combined with carbon capture and sequestration to deliver much needed energy and chemical sources.

So what is holding back companies from fully utilizing this technology now?

The interest into the capabilities of UCG is increasing rapidly. But in order to realise it’s fully potential the key technical, environmental, regulatory, legal and economic challenges must be addressed further.

The Global UCG Summit will explore the commercialisation challenges of Underground Coal Gasification and help companies and governments looking to adopt or further UCG development to liaise and overcome the key barriers to full scale adoption.

R.K Sharma, GM-Head UCG for ONGC to speak at the Global UCG Summit