Clean Coal Technologies – a chance for Poland’s energy security. Decision-making using AHP with Benefits, Opportunities, Costs and Risk Analysis

Abstract

The comprehensive use of available domestic energy resources, mainly coal and lignite, is the basis for the development of Poland’s economy and energy security due to the country’s large resource base. The implementation of clean coal technologies (CCT) is a necessary condition for maintaining coal’s leading position in Poland. Coal gasification technologies are seen as potentially attractive for the Polish economy, both for the chemical sector as well as for the mining sector. Working on the commercial implementation of coal gasification technologies, which ensures the effective substitution of scarce hydrocarbon fuels, will be a challenge to Polish industrial policy and support for CCT. This paper presents an analysis of coal gasification technologies using the decision support procedures, BOCR and SWOT analyses. These procedures helped determine the ranking of technologies and the types of development strategies plausible for the analysed technological variants. Taking into consideration the conditions of the Polish economy, the highest-ranking technologies included those aimed towards the production of methanol with the geological sequestration of carbon dioxide (CCS). In the case of underground coal gasification, it was found that the technology is not yet ready for implementation on a commercial scale and investment is subject to very high risk.