Australian Shares Sparty's Blog
Comments on this blog should never be taken as investment advice
Posts on this website are general "tips" and nothing more than that and should never be used to make an investment or trading decision. All information should be carefully cross-checked against official sources for accuracy.
Main Forum•Fifth generation gasifier design creates significantly more UCG gas flows which lowers gas cost
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"These latest achievements, combined with a long heritage of UCG operating experience, means Linc Energy is uniquely positioned with UCG capabilities that are ready to be deployed in commercial operations for clean energy and fuels applications around the world. When you overlay that capability with the Company's established global coal footprint, that's when things really get exciting!" Peter Bond CEO Linc Energy
Read full articleI hold LNC
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The Elephant in the room is whether the cracking of coal underground with chemicals that are known to be not nice actually end up in the water supply. And if they do at what concentration? Energy is important but not at the health of any child. There are always other options for energy which are more costly but free of concern. If I buy Linc share what will I be buying?
Alite
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Hi Alite, I have covered this in earlier posts. The underground coal burning chambers (gasifiers) are kept at a negative pressure to the surrounds. Hence solutes can move into the burn chamber but not outwards. There is quite a lot of work surrounding the safety of UCG... you can find links to it on www.ucg-gtl.com.
Fraccing as opposed to cracking of coal has of course several downsides but fraccing isn't used in UCG. Cracking is an unusual descriptor of the UCG process. -
My Bad, I don't read all posts. Also I don't understand the difference between fraccing and cracking. I have some work to do to understand the difference. I'll come back when I know more.
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Sparty, The link that you supplied; "www.ucg-gtl.com" gave me no information on the safety of UCG and did not mention "negative pressure"; something I believe would ensure the process is safe. Where can I see the word," negative pressure" from the UGC proponents.
Reading LINC Presentation: LINC's raft of prospects make my head spin. They are either a great company who will make a mint or are great spin doctors. I cannot value them other than to say they sold an asset for 500 mill and have a current Market Cap of 500 mill and no debt.
I'm out of company concerns. Are they safe...
Sparty, your thoughts?
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Hi Alite, I think that they are going to become one of Australia's showcase companies. They have a wonderful foundation (UCG-GTL) and have branched out into different areas to give them quite a wide breadth of income streams. if you look into each of them you will see that they have very interesting interlinks. For example enhanced oil recovery from older wells using Co2 derived from the UCG process etc.
Re the safety of UCG: http://www.coal-ucg.com/environmentalissues.html
The comments re depth are particularly important when you look at LNC's proposed UCG leases.Re Groundwater contamination:
" Groundwater contamination is the most significant risk related to UCG. Contaminants generated within the burn cavity may include organic substances including phenols and benzenes, and inorganic substances, including calcium and sodium.
Concerns regarding groundwater contamination are largely the consequence of specific trials of UCG in the 1970s in the U.S., where groundwater remediation was required at two sites due to organic contaminants from the burn cavity migrating into the overlying aquifer. However, according to Dr. Julio Friedmann of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, “both trials involved serious operator error that resulted in the contamination and do not reflect on the environmental credentials of the technology itself … the sites themselves were high risk locations”
Site selection includes the use of deep coal seams and the use of poor quality groundwater. The use of deeper coal increases the likelihood of the existence of high hydrostatic pressure to reduce the risk of gas leakage from the gasifier and avoids potential groundwater contamination issues. Choosing a site with non-potable groundwater is simply a risk mitigation measure.In addition to the two U.S. sites noted, a UCG site in the Former Soviet Union tested for high salt concentrations shortly after closure. However, these were shown to rapidly decrease to background levels without any intervention." Read more
Amplifying the above: Groundwater quality concerns are more substantial, but are by no means overwhelming.
Out of the 33 UCG trials in the U.S., only 2 have resulted in environmental issues like groundwater contamination. Both trials involved serious operator error that resulted in contamination and do not reflect the environmental credentials of the technology itself. In addition, those sites were extremely shallow, in fresh water aquifers, and interbedded with highly permeable strata; in other words, the sites themselves were high-risk locations. It should be said that no UCG effort overseas, including the 46-year project in Uzbekistan, shows any evidence of environmental contamination. Read more
Getting back to LNC's overall value proposition you'll need to do quite a bit of reading. A good starting point is to understand just how much coal LNC has here in Australia, their links with Adani, the ongoing revenue streams etc etc. -
Hi Sparty, Great Info. I am now mostly NOT concerned that LINC will produce energy without negative effects. To be more accurate I am now mostly not concerned that if I was to invest my money with this company that I am not helping a company that will create an environmental issue.
LINC seems to know what they can and cannot do.
The chance for operator issues is still present but if the location is chosen well; like LINC's Wyoming project... then I'm in.
Alite
