Linc Energy Expects to Start Clean Diesel Plant by End of Month
By Angela Macdonald-Smith Aug. 12 (Bloomberg) -- Linc Energy Ltd., the Australian company building a project in Queensland to convert coal into clean diesel, expects to start up the fuels plant by the end of the month, said Managing Director Peter Bond.
The demonstration plant, producing about 10 barrels a day of synthetic diesel, will be followed by a larger, A$850 million ($746 million) project, which may start up in early 2011, Bond said in an interview today in Sydney. The full-scale plant will produce about 20,000 barrels a day, he said.
Brisbane-based Linc's project involves the underground conversion of coal into a synthetic gas, which is extracted to the surface for processing into diesel. Using the underground coal gasification process reduces the volume of greenhouse gases emitted compared with conventional coal-to-liquids plants, the company says.
``Coal-to-liquids has got a huge future in Australia, China, India and North America,'' Bond said. ``Anyone who is coal-rich and energy-hungry is going to want to do it.''
Linc has an agreement with BP Plc's Australian unit, which will buy the diesel.
Linc, which has more than quadrupled in Sydney trading in the past six months, today slid 12 cents, or 4 percent, to A$2.92 on the Australian stock exchange. The company doesn't anticipate that overlapping licenses with Queensland Gas Corp. will upset its project plans, Bond said.
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