Avaliação do potencial das principais jazidas Sul-Brasileiras para gaseificação in situ de carvão : aspectos geológicos e de reatividade química

Abstract

Coal is seen as a viable option for energy security, because of its wide availability in the world. However, its future use is largely linked to the development of clean technologies to reduce its environmental impacts. In this context, the underground coal gasification (UCG) emerges as a promising method to increase the availability of coal as an energy resource, being able to substantially reduce the emission of pollutants and greenhouse gases when linked to carbon geologic sequestration. Thus, this study aims to evaluate the influence of geological and compositional parameters of the south Brazilian coals for underground coal gasification. The deposits chosen for this evaluation were: Cambuí; Sapopema; Sul- Catarinense (Barro Branco and Bonito coal seams); Candiota; Santa Terezinha; Morungava/Chico Lomã; Charqueadas; Butiá-Leão; Iruí and Capané. The geological properties of coal seams (depth, thickness and total resources) were used as the initial selection criterion. The deposits of Butiá-Leão and Charqueadas (I1F and I2B coal seams) showed the most favorable terms to UCG, being subjected to physical and chemical analysis and experimental tests to obtain reactivity of coals by thermogravimetry. The thermogravimetry carried out allowed us to evaluate the influence of particle size and temperature on the reactivity of coals. Among the analyzed deposits, the deposit of Charqueadas, I1F coal seam, was the one with the physico-chemical and geological information more favorable for the application of the methodology of UCG.