A hybrid of the mining industry with petroleum expertise could be the key solution to UK’s reaching its green targets while catering for the country’s growing demand for energy, claims an industry veteran.
With trillions of tonnes of coal stored in the bed of the UK Continental Shelf, the country has the potential of securing its energy future through subsea conversion into gas, believes Dr Harry Bradbury, chief executive of clean-energy company Five-Quarter.
Addressing the Unconventional Gas 2014 conference in Aberdeen Bradbury presented the firm’s Deep Gas Winning model, explaining the processes involved in converting the “complex chemistry” of coal to generate methane, hydrogen and carbon monoxide which can be used as feedstock for other industries.
Carrying out operations underground and with carbon capture and storage (CCS) systems in place, no greenhouse gasses would reach the atmosphere, he added.
“What we should be looking at is becoming progressively a lot smarter about how we can extract energy from those deposits without at all creating pollution problems,” Bradbury told Energy Voice.
“It is very much a hybrid between hi-tech petroleum and hi-tech mining, and of course in both of those fields we have global expertise.”
Bradbury also argued that Britain needs to step up its game in the unconventional exploration race or it may face competitive pressures on its chemical and process industries from emerging energy markets.
Watch our Energy editor Jeremy Cresswell interview Dr Harry Bradbury below
Recommended for you
