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Title: Evaluation of Electricity Generation from Underground Coal Fires and Waste Banks
Principal Investigator's Name(s): Cenk Yavuzturk and David E. Walrath
Program Overview: The project deals with the feasibility
of electrical energy production from underground coal fires and waste
coal banks. A thermal response factors model based on the transient, two-dimensional
numerical model of a vertical heat extraction borehole is used to assess
the magnitude of energy extraction coupled with a binary-cycle power plant.
Series of sensitivity and life-cycle cost analyses are conducted to determine
the impact of system operating parameters on the production of 1 MW of
electrical power. The analyses are developed considering an existing underground
coal fire site at the Acme Coal Mine in Sheridan, WY.
Objective of the Project: System simulation results indicate that a binary-cycle power plant may be economically feasible at ground temperatures as low as 190C.