KARACHI – The Thar Coal Energy Board (TCEB) has directed that the companies involved in drilling at Thar coal sites should be instructed to take utmost care in order to prevent water from entering the coal seam zone.
These directives were given in the light of the first test burn of the underground coal gasification (UCG) project at Thar in March this year that will initially produce three to five megawatts electricity.
According to the minutes of TCEB’s 10th meeting, UCG Governing Body Chairman Dr Samar Mubarakmand intimated to the board that care should be taken that water above the rocks should not enter coal mines while mining through the open-pit method as it may affect the UCG process.
Sindh Engro Coal Mining Company Chief Executive Officer Khalid Mansoor stated that opencast mining is a well-established industry and dewatering is one of its essential parts. A detailed groundwater modelling has been carried out by the RWE Company, which has a long history of open cast mining and hence these apprehensions have no factual basis, he added.
“The UCG is an experimental technology yet to be established on large scale commercial operations,” he said.
Briefing about the progress on UCG project in Block-V, Mubarakmand informed the TCEB that Thar is suitable for the environmental-friendly UCG, which can be termed as the future technology having wide range of coal applications eg power generation, diesel, fertiliser, chemical production etc and the technology was being used for power generation all over the world.
He elaborated upon the production process wherein UCG operation is initiated by drilling two adjacent boreholes into the coal seam and injecting pressurised oxidants like hot air to ignite the coal seam while recovering the combustion gases through the adjacent borehole. The connection between the injection and the product well is made by general linking techniques such as reverse combustion of coal.
Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah – also the TCEB chairman – asked what precautionary measures are being taken to avoid spreading of fire while igniting the coal.
Mubarakmand assured that there was no chance of the fire spreading, since methane gas was not present in any of the Thar coal block while the coal reserves were sealed by a rock layer.
“In March, the test burn for about three to five megawatts electricity shall be conducted and for that our team is proactively engaged,” he said.
Earlier, it was reported that the design of underground gasification had been completed and the contract for drilling of gasification wells awarded to the Geological Survey of Pakistan, which has mobilised its establishment and machinery at the Islamkot site.
