Carbon dioxide capture comes out of the lab
Posted: 21 May 2009
Carbon dioxide (CO2) is now being captured by researchers in Australia’s first pre-combustion carbon
capture project.
Victorian Minister for Energy and Resources Peter Batchelor has launched the CO2CRC/HRL Mulgrave
Capture Project at HRL’s gasifier research facility at Mulgrave in Melbourne, Victoria.
The Cooperative Research Centre for Greenhouse Gas Technologies (CO2CRC), one of the world’s leading
CCS research collaborations, has commissioned three CO2 capture research rigs with the aim of reducing
CO2 emissions from the next generation of high efficiency coal gasification power stations.
"The CO2CRC rigs will capture CO2 from syngas, the product of the brown coal gasifier, using three
innovative new technologies," said Mr Barry Hooper, Chief Technologist of the CO2CRC.
"These capture technologies are equally applicable to syngas from brown and black coal, gas or biomass fuels."
Advanced gasifier technologies are highly suitable for CCS capture as they produce a concentrated stream of
CO2. During the project, researchers will evaluate solvent, membrane and adsorbent technologies for
efficiency and cost-effectiveness.
"Our key objective is to reduce the technical risk and cost of capturing CO2 from the next generation of coal
gasification power stations," said Mr Hooper.
"Projects such as this can also demonstrate that CCS is not
only possible but practical.
"It’s an exciting step up from lab research and will allow CO2CRC researchers from the University of
Melbourne and Monash University to undertake applied research in an industrial environment."
The project is part of CO2CRC’s CO2 capture research program, one of the world’s most comprehensive.
Australian CCS research is part of an international drive to make deep cuts in global greenhouse gas
emissions by capturing and storing CO2 from major sources such as power stations.
The project has been supported by the Victorian Government, through Energy Technology Innovation
Strategy (ETIS) funding.
CO2CRC is supported through the Australian Government’s CRC Program.
Posted by Richard Price, Editor, EnergyME.com
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