Project to evaluate CO2 storage project in UK coal beds

By OGJ editors
HOUSTON, Mar. 29 -- Composite Energy, a Scottish company developing coalbed methane production in the UK, commissioned a 2-year study to evaluate carbon dioxide storage in coal. The £300,000 project is being financed by BG Group, Scottish Power, and Royal Bank of Scotland.

It will focus on the potential of enhancing methane recovery through storing CO₂ in coal. Composite Energy, which is in the process of developing methane production from deep coalbeds in Scotland, will provide horizontal drilling expertise required for the long extended-reach boreholes required for the storage project.

Compsite Energy believes coalbed methane trapped in deep coal seams will provide an untapped long-term source of UK natural gas.

Strathclyde University in Glasgow will assess the gas adsorption and desorption properties of the coal. Imperial College of London will assess the mechanical properties of the coal to model and predict the performance of a pilot scheme. The project will evaluate the ability of CO₂ to bond to coal.

Composite Energy Chief Executive Stephen Jewell said the study will evaluate the potential of CO₂ storage both in the interest of increasing methane recovery and also reducing CO emissions.

"Coal can typically absorb five times more CO₂ than the methane it releases," Jewell said. "This may be a very real solution for reducing greenhouse gases." The program will involve the direct injection of flue gas from the 2,400 Mw Longannet Power station into unminable coal seams in the central belt of Scotland. Scottish Power owns and operates Longannet Power station.