d day tomorrow, page-9

FROM THE MINISTER FOR ENERGY AND RESOURCES

DATE: Tuesday, November 27, 2007


A CUT AND DRY CASE FOR CLEAN COAL

A Victorian-developed coal drying process which halves the moisture content of brown coal is creating a cleaner, greener energy source with water harvested for recycling or environmental use.

Inspecting the Coldry processing plant in Bacchus Marsh today, Environment Minister Gavin Jennings and Energy and Resources Minister Peter Batchelor said the coal drying process generated one KL of water and one tonne of Coldry pellets for every two tonnes of brown coal.

The coal drying process is being developed at the Maddingley Brown Coal mine in Bacchus Marsh by Environmental Clean Technologies (ECT).

Mr Batchelor said the world-patented technology changes the molecular structure of raw, porous brown coal into a dense, dry hard pellet with the energy equivalent of high-grade black coal.

“The Coldry pellet can reduce emissions by around 10 per cent in existing brown coal generators. When deployed in a modernised brown coal boiler, the emission reduction may rise to around 40 per cent,” Mr Batchelor said.

“ECT’s innovative process improves the thermal efficiency of Victorian brown coal to create a product comparable with black coal from Queensland and NSW, reducing emissions and costs.”

Mr Jennings said removing this water dramatically improves the environmental performance of using the coal to generate electricity.

“The added benefit is that the water can be returned to the generation process or returned to the environment, putting substantial amounts of water to good use,” Mr Jennings said.

“It’s exciting to think that a technology developed in Melbourne and tested here at Bacchus Marsh is not only building a resource smart Victoria, but also offering solutions to cut emissions in markets like China, which are experiencing massive growth in demand for energy.”

Mr Batchelor said that the Brumby Government was investing in a range of technologies in the emerging clean coal sector to let the market adopt those technologies which are demonstrated to work on an industrial scale.

“When we talk about clean coal, we’re not talking about carbon sequestration alone. It’s important that we look at the whole process of electricity generation and make efficiencies and reduce emissions wherever we can,” Mr Batchelor said.

“The Brumby Government’s approach to carbon reduction technologies is multi-pronged, and includes support for other clean coal projects such as HRL and at Hazelwood.

“The Victorian Government has already committed over $100 million to coal development under our Energy Technology Innovation Strategy.”

Victorian brown coal is costly to transport, leading to generators usually being sited at the mine mouth. The Coldry process produces a hard, high-energy pellet that is more easily and cheaply transported, creating export potential for both the technology and fuel.

Mr Jennings said the Coldry project was supported with $238,000 from the Victorian Government’s Sustainability Fund, managed by Sustainability Victoria, which fosters sustainable resource use and projects that have long-term economic and social benefits for communities.

“In addition to generating lower emission energy, the pellets will also provide quality feedstock for new steel making processes and can be used for oil-from-coal technologies,” Mr Jennings said.

“ECT is hoping to export this exciting technology to markets in Northern Europe and Asia where brown coal similar to Victorian coal is used.”

For further information on the Sustainability Fund, please visit: www.sustainability.vic.gov.au