Poland approves underground coal gas work

July 7, 2014
Linc Energy Ltd., Brisbane, has received initial approval to begin an underground coal gasification (UCG) project in Poland.

Linc Energy Ltd., Brisbane, has received initial approval to begin an underground coal gasification (UCG) project in Poland.

The company says the coal resource in its license area, near Krakow, might yield 800 billion cu m of pipeline-quality gas over 80 years if the operation reaches commercial scale.

The first phase of its work, approved by the Polish Ministry of the Environment, will include gas-production trials and process verification.

The company has completed coal resource drilling, a seismic survey, and a detailed evaluation indicating the coal is suitable for UCG.

Linc will move some of the equipment from its Chinchilla UCG demonstration plant in Queensland to the Polish demonstration operation (OGJ Online, Oct. 15, 2008).

Linc began decommissioning the Chinchilla plant last November after the fifth gasifier at the site completed its 2-year design life, having produced 48 million normal cu m of synthetic gas from 19,300 tonnes of coal.

It began work at the Chinchilla research and development site in late 1999. When it announced decommissioning the facility, the company said it saw no commercial opportunity to use its UCG technology in Queensland.

Linc said it expects key items from the Chinchilla facility to begin arriving in Poland by yearend.