The University of New South Wales (UNSW Australia), which claims a research breakthrough in increasing gas yields from coal seams manifold, will partner TERI to develop industrial application of the phenomenon in coal seams gas wells operated by state-run ONGC.
"A novel Australian research breakthrough that promises to dramatically increase gas yields from coal seams and biogas plants will be trialled for industrial application for the first time in partnership with ONGC," UNSW Australia said in a statement today.
According to the statement, in its recent funding round, the Australia India Strategic Research Fund (AISRF) announced a new grant of Australian Dollar one million to support the project.
It said that simply by adding a common synthetic dye, microbiologists at UNSW Australia have demonstrated a tenfold increase in the volume of methane generated by microbes in coal seams, and even larger gains in biogas derived from agricultural and food waste.
UNSW's researchers have already replicated the extraordinary gains in gas volumes outside the laboratory, in tests in coal seams west of Sydney.
However, Indian trials will enable a battery of industrial scale tests factoring in critical variables such as coal seam pressure and temperature, as well as enabling the development of new technologies to precisely introduce the dye.
The breakthrough could extend the life of coal seam gas wells as well as greatly boost gas yields from bio-digesters that use carbon neutral organic waste to generate methane for electricity production.
The India-based project is also expected to deliver new fundamental knowledge about how methane-producing microbes work.
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