Having local takers offload the products to will definitely be one of the requirements to get Master Plan over the line. I don't anticipate this being an issue as I believe there's a higher demand for the generated products than what's produced domestically.
Before PWN came knocking salt encapsulation was the suggested best option, as no other technologies/options stacked-up (as you've just read) Parkway are currently in a holding pattern whilst Local Govt, APPEA, CSG Companies and communities digest Master Plan and Bahay & his team methodically work with these groups until they all come to the same conclusion that this is the BAT (best available technology).
Some of the numbers you've mentioned were derived from old(er) feasibility studies which was part of the reason why they didn't work. With PWN's current proposal there would be approximately 1.7% untreated salts remaining. Also, just to clarify, the term salts is a reference to the residual product once the water is removed, it's not actually "salt" as in sodium chloride as you mentioned (breakdown below). They also have the technology which they would be able to further treat most of the remaining salts, but this may become an add-on later and only after they've completed a proper feasibility (and possibly scale-up) of this option.
With regards to the quality of products generated in their proposal, it's a much higher quality than what was previous SSR proposals. I reached out to the UQ Centre for Natural Gas who conducted the peer review of the 2020 APPEA report. Dr Phil Hayes seemed impressed by the numbers I showed him from one of PWN's ANN's - see below, though he also mentioned that this would obviously need to be scaled up to industrial levels to be feasible. (Worley will be involved for this)
Additional water recovery from highly concentrated brine in storage ponds = 97% Brine salts converted into high grade saleable products and water recovery exceeds 98%, made up of:
a. High purity water = 64.7% b. NaCl – Industrial salt product = 14.4% c. CaCO3 – Agricultural lime product = 8.1% d. NaOH – Caustic soda product = 11.2% e. Remaining residual brine = 1.7%
To also clarify the commencement date for salt encapsulation facilities, my understanding is they were pushed back to 2030 (being operational) as this is the least preferred of the 4 options investigated and companies are hoping a viable technology solution would emerge. To be operating by then these facilities will require some years of planning etc. A decision as to which way to go will need to be made in the not-too-distant future.
Hope this clarifies some areas for you.
PWN Price at posting:
1.1¢ Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Held
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