Underground coal gasification (UCG) is an important technique for future coal utilization. It has the potential to be a clean technology and to tap un-mineable, deep coal deposits across the world. Commercialization of UCG has been riddled with a variety of issues, including public perception and a lack of clear comprehension about underlying physicochemical phenomena. This book will bridge the gap in knowledge and highlight the modern findings related to the complex interactions in UCG. With a focus on the chemical reactions in UCG and treating the underground coal cavity as “nature’s own chemical reactor”, various mathematical modeling studies that serve to unravel some of the mysteries of this decades-old technique will be revealed.

The book deals with development of comprehensive computational models for simulating underground coal gasification (UCG). It starts with an introduction to the UCG process and process modelling inputs in the form of reaction kinetics, flow patterns, spalling rate, and transport coefficient that are elaborated with methods to generate the same are described with illustrations. All the known process models are reviewed, and relative merits and limitations of the modeling approaches are highlighted and compared. The book describes all the necessary steps required to determine the techno-economic feasibility of UCG process for a given coal reserve, through modeling and simulation.