Supporting research into low emission technology
Mick Buffier, Glencore Coal
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lencore’s wholly-owned subsidiary, the Carbon Transport and Storage Corporation Pty Ltd (CTSCo), is continuing to progress its carbon capture and storage (CCS) project in Queensland’s Surat Basin. The project has received grant funding from the Australian black coal industry via the Coal 21 Fund and the Commonwealth Government. Since the project’s inception in 2010, CTSCo has brought together a range of scientific and technical experts from University of Queensland, University of Melbourne and University of Texas to provide independent reviews of our detailed modelling, testing and analysis to determine the suitability of storing carbon dioxide (CO2) more than 1.2km underground. The project will be subject to rigorous Government
environmental assessments and approvals. The CTSCo Project is currently in the final stages of completing a feasibility study and will be seeking regulatory approval to test inject up to 180,000 tonnes of CO2 over three years. This is equivalent to storing / removing emissions from 10,000 Queensland households*. According to the Australian Government’s CCS Storage Atlas, the Surat Basin in Queensland is one of the most prospective locations in Australia capable of storing industrial scale volumes of
CO2, making it a priority area for conducting detailed CCS studies and demonstration projects at scale. As such, the CTSCo Project can contribute to the accelerated development of CCS technology globally as well as providing a pathway for Queensland and Australia to significantly reduce emissions from coal and gas baseload power generation for decades to come. The CTSCo test injection is the first step in proving that CCS technology can be safely, effectively and sustainably deployed in the region.
BBMC Yearbook 2019
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