The Bulgarian company OVERGAS Inc. AD is coordinating the project, which is the first Bulgarian project under the European Commission’s Research Fund for Coal and Steel.

The project consists in two steps, studying first the process of underground coal gasification (UCG) producing thereby streams of combustible gas (hydrogen, methane and CO₂) which can be extracted from the subsurface. Secondly, partners research on how to use the methane-rich gas stream to generate power in conventional turbines or fuel cells or for industrial heating and storing the CO₂ back into the rock from where the coal was extracted.

The idea of the study is to explore the potential and feasibility of utilizing deep lying coal seams (>1200m under the ground) of the target site in Bulgaria (and elswhere) for the UCG-CO₂ storage Scheme. Data from the target site will be used to model the complete process, incl. combustion, gas extraction and CO₂storage. They will pay particular attention to potential environment hazards, such as the chance of stored CO₂ leaking through cracks in the rock.

If proved to be applicable and effective the next stage could be a pilot test and extension to a semi-commercial scheme.

The website of the project: http://www.ucg-co2.eu/

Further information is available on the Leeds University website.