Underground gasification in western black sea area and thermodynamic analysis

Abstract

As known, western Black Sea carboniferous coal fields consist of two main fields: Zonguldak and Amasra. Previous research works have shown that Zonguldak area is not suitable for underground coal gasification. The joint studies done since 1994 by the Department of Geology and the Solar Energy Institute of Aegean University and, the Mineral Research and Exploration Institute of Ministry of Energy and Natural Sources have shown that the Amasra coal field is suitable with certain restrictions for the underground coal gasification. In the present work, the suitability of the Amasra - coal field for underground coal gasification will be discussed and the "Controlled Retraction of the Injection Point; CRIP"- Method which was successfully used and tested in the American field experiments will be described briefly. A brief thermodynamic analysis of the gasification process will be given which should help, as a tool, to the theoretical prediction of the underground coal gasification.