Coal-to-liquids supply chain integration in view of operational, economic and environmental risk assessments under unfavourable geological settings

ODYSSEUS is an R&D project initiated in 2019 and funded by the European Research Fund for Coal and Steel. The project partners from the European coal industry, research organisations and universities focus on the Coal-to-Liquids Supply Chain (CLSC) integration and enhanced assessment of operational, economic and environmental risks during or after mine operation in unfavourable geological settings for potential high coal production areas in European medium- to low-grade coal deposits. For that purpose, technological CLSC integration and optimisation are the main objectives, supported by laboratory- to demonstration-scale experimental activities on upgrading coal-derived liquids and by-product beneficiation, integration of conventional and innovative mine development as well as enhanced techno-economic and environmental risk management. The present contribution provides insights into the CLSC integration strategy developed for a European hard coal deposit and an operating lignite mine based on the combination of in-situ coal conversion with conventional extraction, findings from laboratory- and demonstration-scale coal- liquefaction experiments at surface and in-situ conditions, techno-economic assessments and numerical modelling of coupled processes for the elaboration of a robust environmental risk assessment framework. © 2021 38th Annual International Pittsburgh Coal Conference 2021: Clean Coal-based Energy/Fuels and the Environment, PCC 2021. All rights reserved.