Power plant claims 90 per cent carbon captureJuly 27, 2009A NEW...

Power plant claims 90 per cent carbon capture

July 27, 2009

A NEW power station using world-first technology will be able to capture and store 90 per cent of its carbon, its proponents say.

GE Energy (GE) says it is working with partners in Queensland to develop the world's first integrated gasification combined-cycle (IGCC) power plant.

IGCC technology enables the use of large amounts of coal to generate electricity with lower emissions than traditional pulverised coal technology and with the ability to capture carbon for storage or enhanced oil recovery.

The proposed project at Wandoan, 400km west of Brisbane, would produce 400 megawatts of power and be capable of capturing 90 per cent of the carbon dioxide in the fuel stream for future storage.

If the development phase moves forward this year, the plant is expected to be ready for commercial operation in late 2015 or early 2016.

The proposal has the support of the World Wildlife Fund.

"Rapid deployment of CCS (carbon capture and storage) along with other low and zero emission technologies will be crucial if we are to avoid dangerous climate change,'' said WWF-Australia policy manager for climate change, Kellie Caught.

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The interesting thing about this is how much it parallels Cougar's projects.

Wandoan, obviously. But an IGCC power plant is what Cougar is aiming to build, and the fuel for an IGCC is Syngas.

As far as I know Cougar is NOT planning currently to utilise CCS technology for Kingaroy, but they are relying on the naturally lower carbon emissions of the IGCC process. But this could easily be modified to use this GE technology as it is clearly suitable for Kingaroy or subsequent plants, in which case Cougar could be a truly green energy producer.