Coal Bed Methane as an Alternative Energy Source
Another quietly expanding industry is to extract deadly methane gases from deep underground and sell it back into the national grid.
For years now miners have known that the deadly coal bed methane (CBM) gases that are embedded in the old coal mines around the UK can kill them but now new companies are developing existing technologies in an attempt to extract these gases for home energy.
As the oil starts to run out and tough targets set by the EU for having more green energy sources and cutting CO2 emissions begin to appear on the horizon new alternative energy sources need to be found and implemented.
The area around Elsmere Port Liverpool appears to be the first site in the UK where a AIM listed company lgas already has a pilot in operation between Widnes and Warrington which already produces enough gas to generate electricity for 1,200 homes.
Their plans are now to have additional plants around the UK and it’s suggested that the UK has enough CBM gas underground to generate around 7% of the UK’s energy needs for homes for the next 15 years.
There are potential sites all around where the old coal mines used to be including North Wales.
Although the technologies are known to be able to extract the gas it’s a long drawn out process that’s not completely uniform in its methods and the flow rates when extracting the gas is slow. The mines are generally sealed although not all are perfect and the process to extract the gas is to lower the pressure in the mine and the gas simply floats off and is captured.
This change and development is happening all around the world and the Shell Oil Group has just announced the acquisition of Australia’s Arrow company who process the gas into liquid form called liquefied natural gas (LNG) so it can be transported around the world to other economies to purchase.
The world’s biggest coal bed methane gas reserves are in Russia, USA, China and Australia and in Oz it’s called coal seam gas. From the announcement that the big boys are now getting involved with this gas extraction it would appear that there is mileage for coal bed methane as an alternative energy source to produce much needed electricity for the world’s demand.
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