DEVELOPMENT OF COAL GASIFICATION TECHNOLOGIES

The history of development of coal gasification technologies is reviewed. The basic fea- tures of the 'first generation' technologies (Lurgi, Winkler and Koppers-Totzek), and later developments based on these are discussed. The role of coal gasification in 'clean' coal based electric power generation is discussed, as a later development to fulfil environmental requirements. Special, experimental gasificatioll processes (gasification with nuclear heat, molten bath processes and underground gasification) are also mentioned