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Home › Knowledge › Methane as Renewable Energy

Coal Mine Methane (CMM)

Mine methane is a hazardous waste gas which has the potential to cause disastrous explosions if not efficiently and safely managed through safe mine ventilation systems underground. On escaping to the atmosphere from both abandoned and operating coal mines it is a major component of global greenhouse gas emissions second only to carbon dioxide in its effects. Conventional coal mining operations cause subsidence and fractures in the strata above and below the coal seams being worked. This widespread de-stressing of the ground gives rise to increased permeability and connectivity of the mining area to the atmosphere and results in the void space in the old workings becoming a huge gas reservoir.

Today, while there are few deep coal mines still working in the UK, there are many hundreds of abandoned mines leaking methane into the atmosphere via old shafts, shallow workings and geological faults. DEFRA reported in 2005 on a methodology for estimating current and future mine methane emissions going out to 2050. The consultants concluded that the methane emitted each year in the UK from abandoned coal mines is currently equivalent to about 1.4 million tonnes of carbon dioxide and that emissions of this gas will continue at significant levels beyond 2050. The significance of the DEFRA report for the industry in the UK is that it should allow these estimates to be included in the revised Kyoto baseline and ultimately for them to traded within the EU ETS.

Chicago Climate Exchange has set up a voluntary market for trading Verified Emissions Reductions and Alkane to take advantage of this rapidly growing market has engaged German specialists to verify its annual emissions reductions ready for trading in 2008.

How Alkane converts methane into a renewable energy source

Coal mine methane typically contains concentrations of 60% to 75% methane, the remainder being carbon dioxide and nitrogen. This gas is not suitable for compression or direct injection into the natural gas grid as its calorific value is not up to pipeline specification. Thus its primary use is as a fuel source for gas engines and the generation of renewable electricity in Germany and France. In the UK, it is not yet recognised as renewable energy in the same pragmatic way as has been in those countries.

Alkane Energy captures and uses this potent greenhouse gas for decentralised power generation and for heating. Alkane’s methane capture and electricity generation systems are modular and containerised which enables it to customise its plants for the quantity and purity of the available gas. This also allows the modular power stations to expand or reduce in size as the mine methane flows increase or decrease over time and in the end to be removed if the methane source is no longer economically viable. The gas extraction and generation plants are fully automated but can also be remotely operated through the internet from our central control centre at Markham. Alkane’s plants are serviced by our own highly trained technicians from our head office in Nottinghamshire.