CCS laboratories opened in Victoria

CO2CRC and The University of Melbourne have opened emissions reduction laboratories aimed at providing clean, efficient energy for Australia. The facility is funded by CO2CRC and the Australian Government’s Education Investment Fund (EIF).

The laboratories will look to reduce the cost of implementing carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies in which carbon dioxide is separated from industrial processes before being cooled and compressed so that it can be transported. The CO₂ is then injected deep underground, where the carbon will settle and remain.

“Carbon capture and storage will provide 13% of global emissions reductions by 2050,” said Professor Geoff Stevens from CO2CRC and the Melbourne School of Engineering. “It is the only technology that can be applied to energy-intensive industries such as cement, steel, chemical and fertiliser production, and it can reduce emissions from fossil-fuelled power generation by up to 98%. It is also one of the only technologies that has the potential to have negative emissions when combined with bio energy.”

The news comes just two weeks after CO2CRC opened a CCS laboratory at Federation University Australia’s Gippsland campus. The laboratory will conduct research into a range of CCS technologies, with the aim of creating price-competitive carbon reduction options.

Dr Vincent Verheyen, director of FedUni’s Carbon Technology Research Centre, said the laboratory’s location at the Gippsland campus is “particularly fitting, given that nearly 90% of Australia’s brown coal reserves are located here”. Indeed, the facility intends to serve as a community focal point for science on brown coal and related energy knowledge topics.

“The laboratory will make a significant contribution to the understanding and implementation of solvent-based post-combustion capture at Latrobe Valley Brown Coal power generation facilities,” Dr Verheyen said.

“While the initial focus of the facilities will be on local flue gas, the knowledge gained will be relevant to other power generators and broadened to pre-combustion coal to product applications around the country and internationally.”

CO2CRC CEO Tania Constable said that CCS could play a vital role in supporting the renewal of the Gippsland region. It will result in thousands of jobs for the region, she said, plus the removal of over 10% of Australia’s emissions.