Development of Gasification and Activities in Turkish Coal Enterprises

IMPORTANCE OF UCG FOR TURKEY AND TKI• Turkish Coal Enterprises’ (TKI) coals and other Turkey coals are mainly low-rank or soft coal (e.g.lignite)• In Turkey, some lignite deposits are not mineable or mining is not economical. These deposits maybe well suited for underground gasification.• TKI has started a development program aimed at creating commercial coal gasification operations.• Turkey is a net importer of gas and oil, and has become increasingly dependent on natural gasfrom a pipelines that runs through the country.• Turkey could improve its energy security by increasing utilization of its sizeable coal resources.• Lignite gasifies well and the deep seams are good for UCG. However, many issues must beaddressed, such as selecting the best regions and sites, identifying economic uses for the productgas, thin seams, high moisture. Therefore, some R&D activities must be done beforehandRegarding UGG, TKI has completed a lab scale project and is conducting a feasibility study. These are:1 - Research and analysis of underground coal gasifying in the laboratory environment2 - Gasification of Turkish Lignite via Underground Coal Gasification (UCG)