Linc Energy has successfully ignited the No. 3 Underground Coal Gasification Field at it’s Chinchilla facility near Queensland, Australia. The company is using Underground Coal Gasification (UCG) to convert stranded coal reserves to syngas. The process involves injecting air or oxygen into the coal seam and igniting the coal seam. The syngas is processed the same as above ground traditional coal gasification. At this time, Linc is sending the syngas to the flare. This is a major milestone for the project. The company reports that the syngas is good quality.

Linc is also constructing a Gas-to-Liquids (GTL) demonstration plant at the site. The GTL process will convert the syngas to liquid diesel fuel. According to Linc executives, the Chinchilla facility will convert $1 / ton coal in-situ to $140 / barrel high quality diesel fuel. This is accomplished by converting the coal to syngas using the underground coal gasification technology and converting the syngas to diesel fuel using the GTL technology.

The No. 3 Generator field will be capable of producing 250,000 cubic meters of syngas per day. After the testing is complete, the facility will have the capacity to produce 1,000,000 cubic meters of syngas per hour. The GTL plant will be designed to produce 20,000 bpd high quality diesel fuel.