Page 234 - New Trends In Coal Conversion

196 New Trends in Coal Conversion

7.2.5.1.2 Theunissen underground coal gasification project
Several underground coal gasification projects are being currently developed in South
Africa by African Carbon Energy (Pty) Ltd and its subsidiaries, collectively known as
“Africary”, the 50-MWe Theunissen UCG Project being the most important one. The
company plans to develop up to 1000 MW of UCG power to meet a 2500 MW coal
baseloadeindependent power program, as established by the South African Depart-
ment of Energy. More information about the project can be found elsewhere (Brand,
2016; van Dyk et al., 2015).
7.2.5.2 Mozambique and Botswana

According to the National Energy Technology Laboratory’s Gasification Plant Data-
bases, two other countries have coal gasification projects. In Mozambique, there are
three relevant coal gasification plants which are being built in and whose start date
is expected to be in 2018, and in Botswana, there is a project to build a CTL plant.
The project was delayed, but recent news indicates that is expected to begin soon
(The Botswana Gazette, 2017).

7.3 Concluding remarks

The current status of coal gasification worldwide shows the following:
• Gasification still plays an important role as one of the CCTs as proved by the wide-
spread number of countries which have coal gasification plants.
• Most of the new installations are being constructed in Asia.
• China is by far leading this trend, and the main goal has shifted from power gen-
eration to production of an extensive range of chemicals. Moreover, the number
of gasification technologies is widening.
• Other Asian countries such as Japan are focusing on more efficient power genera-
tion cycles; for instance, coupling gasification with fuel cells.
• Some of the oldest, largest, and more efficient coal gasification plants are in the
United States.
• The first examples of production of alternative fuels from coal gasification and fully
integrated CO 2 capture materialized also in the United States. Construction of new
polygeneration facilities started in the last years, but they are facing demanding
environmental, technical, and economic challenges to fully reach operation.
• In Europe, in accordance with a change toward less use of coal and more renew-
ables, some of the most well-known IGCC plants built in the 1990s (Puertollano
and Buggenum) have been shut down. Nonetheless, R&D is still ongoing in
good shape, mainly under the RFCS programme.
• Underground coal gasification is attracting research interest in Europe while being
controversial in Australia.
• For many years, South Africa has been leading CTL processes thanks to the Sasol
plants.