How is coal seam gas used to produce energy?
Natural gas from coal seams forms part of the gas supply piped into more than one million homes and businesses in NSW for use in everyday cooking, heating and manufacturing. CSG is used to generate electricity in gas-fired power stations as a low emission alternative to electricity produced from coal.
How do you get coal seam gas?
Coal seam gas is held in place by water pressure. To extract it, wells are drilled through the coal seams and the water pressure is reduced by extracting some of the water. This releases natural gas from the coal.
Is coal seam gas good or bad?
Some chemicals used in drilling and hydraulic fracturing, and naturally occurring contaminants released from the coal seam during mining, could harm human health, given sufficient dose and duration of exposure. This potential harm includes increased risk of cancer.
What are the disadvantages of coal seam gas?
Possible environmental effects: environmental groups have raised concerns that CSG development might cause environmental damage through release of untreated production water at the surface; damage to, and contamination of underground aquifers by hydraulic fracturing; damage to wildlife habitat in sensitive areas and …
What are the advantages of coal seam gas?
Natural gas extracted from coal seams can offer a number of benefits as an energy source: natural gas typically burns more efficiently than coal or oil and can emit less greenhouse gas at the points of extraction and combustion.
Is natural gas the same as coal seam gas?
Conventional natural gas and CSG are chemically similar. CSG is almost pure methane; conventional gas is around 90 per cent methane with ethane, propane, butane and other hydrocarbons making up the remainder. The difference between CSG/shale gas and conventional gas is the type of geological rock they are found in.