Linc Energy Clean Coal Projects

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Linc Energy was granted an Exploration Permit for Coal at Chinchilla, Queensland - Australia in December 1998 and commenced work on site in July 1999. Gas was first produced on Boxing Day of the same year. After more than two years of producing gas, Linc was able to prove complete control of the process and environmental stability.

The success of this operation, places it above all other similar developments around the world.

"The process of UCG appears to be technically feasible with no technical barriers being identified at this stage. With a high availability of product gas over two years, the Chinchilla UCG trial is the longest and largest gasification trial in the Western world." Shedden Uhde's technical report, November 2005.

"The Chinchilla UCG project, has demonstrated that the UCG process can be operated without uncontrolled impacts on groundwater.", Golder Associates' environmental report, December 2005.

"The UCG operation in Chinchilla is by far the largest and the longest ever in the Western world. The process displayed high efficiency and consistency in providing gas of stable quality and quantity, and the cost of the UCG gas produced proved to be comparable (on a per unit of energy basis) with the very low cost of thermal coal in the Australian market,", Golder Associates' environmental report, December 2005.

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[smithjohnson011]

Clean coal technology is an umbrella term used to describe technologies being developed that aim to reduce the environmental impact of coal energy generation. These include chemically washing minerals and impurities from the coal, gasification (see also IGCC), treating the flue gases with steam to remove sulfur dioxide,carbon capture and storage technologies to capture the carbon dioxide from the flue gas and dewatering lower rank coals (brown coals) to improve the calorific quality, and thus the efficiency of the conversion into electricity.

Clean coal technology usually addresses atmospheric problems resulting from burning coal. Historically, the primary focus was on sulfur dioxide and particulates, due to the fact that it is the most important gas which leads to acid rain. More recent focus has been on carbon dioxide (due to its likely impact on global warming) as well as other pollutants. Concerns exist regarding the economic viability of these technologies and the timeframe of delivery, potentially high hidden economic costs in terms of social and environmental damage, and the costs and viability of disposing of removed carbon and other toxic matter

Coal is the dirtiest of all fossil fuels. When burned, it produces emissions that contribute to global warming, create acid rain and pollute water. With all of the hoopla surrounding nuclear energy, hydropower and biofuels, you might be forgiven for thinking that grimy coal is finally on its way out.

But coal is no sooty remnant of the Industrial Revolution -- it generates half of the electricity in the United States and will likely continue to do so as long as it's cheap and plentiful. Clean coal technology seeks to reduce harsh environmental effects by using multiple technologies to clean coal and contain its emissions.

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Electricity can be generated using Underground Coal Gasification (UCG) syngas as feedstock by the following methods:

* Combustion in a Gas Turbine Generator (GTG)
* Combustion in a boiler to produce steam to drive a steam turbine

The main advantage of UCG syngas as feedstock for power generation, as opposed to solid coal, is that syngas can be used as feedstock for gas turbines allowing the combination of gas and steam cycles into combined cycles. The higher efficiency achieved by combined cycles compared to coal fired power stations not only means higher returns on investment but also lower greenhouse gas emissions.

Several companies have developed a range of gas turbine applications including Alstom, GE, Hitachi, Mitsubishi and Siemens.

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[smithjohnson011]

Coal is a fossil fuel composed primarily of carbons and hydrocarbons. Its ingredients help make plastics, tar and fertilizers. A coal derivative, a solidified carbon called coke, melts iron ore and reduces it to create steel. But most coal -- 92 percent of the U.S. supply -- goes into power production [source: Energy Information Administration]. Electric companies and businesses with power plants burn coal to make the steam that turns turbines and generates electricity.

When coal burns, it releases carbon dioxide and other emissions in flue gas, the billowing clouds you see pouring out of smoke stacks. Some clean coal technologies purify the coal before it burns. One type of coal preparation, coal washing, removes unwanted minerals by mixing crushed coal with a liquid and allowing the impurities to separate and settle.

Other systems control the coal burn to minimize emissions of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and particulates. Wet scrubbers, or flue gas desulfurization systems, remove sulfur dioxide, a major cause of acid rain, by spraying flue gas with limestone and water. The mixture reacts with the sulfur dioxide to form synthetic gypsum, a component of drywall.

Gasification avoids burning coal altogether. With integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) systems, steam and hot pressurized air or oxygen combine with coal in a reaction that forces carbon molecules apart. The resulting syngas, a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen, is then cleaned and burned in a gas turbine to make electricity. The heat energy from the gas turbine also powers a steam turbine. Since IGCC power plants create two forms of energy, they have the potential to reach a fuel efficiency of 50 percent . *

Next, we'll learn about the most ambitious of all clean coal technologies and what needs to happen before clean coal can become commercially feasible.

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