The Linc Energy Limited Underground Coal Gasification to Liquids demonstration plant at Chinchilla has enjoyed its most successful operation to date producing high quality synthetic hydrocarbon products throughout May.

The demonstration plant first began producing liquids in October 2008 but has made substantial improvements to its operations in recent months and now the company claims it can use this abundant and relatively cheap gas to make synthetic liquid hydrocarbons with a clear focus on diesel.

The process of underground coal gasification allows coal to be converted to a syngas and then be used as a fuel for power generation or as a chemical feedstock. The syngas undergoes sulphur removal and additional conditioning at the surface and is similar to the syngas obtained from conventional surface coal gasification systems.

According to the US Department of Energy’s Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, there are several benefits to this system including: eliminating conventional coal mining and reducing operating costs; leaves gasification residuals underground; accesses otherwise un-mineable coals; and reduces overall greenhouse gas emissions.

However, the system is not without its faults too as it has produced significant groundwater contamination and ground subsidence and it is a non-steady state process meaning that operations cannot be controlled to the same extent as surface gasification.

Linc now hopes to further improve the plant catalyst reduction system.