Centralia partial-seam CRIP test

The controlled retracting injection point (CRIP) concept for underground coal gasification was successfully tested on a small scale in early 1982 in the large block tests, near Centralia, Washington. The basic idea of the CRIP concept is to start a new burn in fresh coal, upstream of the old burn, whenever the quality of the product gas from the old burn falls to an uneconomic level. To start the new burn, a section of the injection pipe is burned off so as to establish a new injection point. The Centralia partial-seam CRIP test, described here, will be a larger scale test of the concept - the first of several tests in a commercialization program designed to develop the CRIP concept of underground coal gasification as applied to a high-wall geometry. The test will be carried out jointly by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and Washington Irrigation and Development Company (WIDCO), whose open-pit coal mine is the site of the test. Sponsors of the test are the Department of Energy, the Gas Research Institute, and two northwestern utilities: the Washington Water Power Company and Pacific Power and Light. The Centralia partial-seam test is designed to use half the coal seam thicknessmore » and to allow for four or five injection point withdrawals. The main test objectives are (1) to determine the appropriate spacing and timing for injection point withdrawal, and (2) to study the gas composition and burn width. Steam-oxygen injection is planned, the expected coal consumption is 2000 tons during 30 days of gasification, and the dry-product-gas heating value is estimated to be 270 Btu/scf. 8 figures, 2 tables.« less