Energy trio wants to pipe gas from coal mines to keep datacenter lights on Three companies in the US are teaming up to address the burgeoning energy needs of datacenters by using coal mine methane piped to on-site fuel cells at locations that are already hotspots for building bit barns. Diversified Energy, FuelCell Energy, and TESIAC, an investment biz focused on infrastructure, are forming a …
It’s not as bad as what environment rapers wanted to do to old coal seams in Warwickshire, UK. Fortunately thrown out as grotesque.
Underground Coal Gasification - yes it’s a thing !!!
The process involves drilling deep into the ground and setting fire to the coal and extracting the resultant gas.
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-coventry-warwickshire-23693775.amp
I did not downvote you but they like me are probably confused how burning the coal creates usable gas - unless there is some weird chemical concoction taking place when igniting coal in what I assume will be an oxygen deprived environment
They have also probably seen the documentaries on abandoned towns (usually America) where underground coal seams have caught fire.
The heat boils off the volatile compounds from the coal. You can do the same with wood and even old tyres. With very little oxygen you get all sorts of wonderful hydrocarbon concoctions. This was the main source of gas for many decades prior to the widespread adoption of natural gas. 'Town gas' was mostly hydrogen with enough carbon monoxide to make it really rather dangerous.
If you want to see some serious environmental harm watch this video!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9w6pXmU8zY
As for setting fire to coal seams... just look at Centralia!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centralia%2C_Pennsylvania
AFAIK, reforming converts methane (+ water) into hydrogen and carbon monoxide. The CO is then reacted with more water to make extra hydrogen plus carbon dioxide. So if you start with a given amount of methane you end up with the same amount of carbon dioxide whether you burn it or reform it. Any "improvement" is related to the efficiency of getting the energy in/out of these processes (burning methane vs reforming it and using the hydrogen). I guess it must be better because there's more opportunity for smoke and mirrors....
Any operation like this results in lots of waste heat. Heat at about 70 C is just right for being piped into district heating systems (the insulated polypipe needed for such schemes lasts a really long time as long as the input heat is below 80 C), and as such you can reclaim some of the cost of the bitbarn power by selling the waste heat at a discounted rate to suburban householders.
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