Please feel free to contact us to share comments or ask questions
CEA has been awarded a $30 million grant through the joint Australian and Victorian Government Advanced Lignite Demonstration Program (ALDP) to develop a demonstration-scale, low-emissions lignite processing plant in the Latrobe Valley.
Our plant will produce significantly less carbon emissions than traditional uses of lignite, also known as brown coal, and play a vital role in boosting the region’s sustainable development and energy transition.
EnergyAustralia will host the plant at its Yallourn North site. Coal will be supplied via an enclosed conveyer from the existing Yallourn mine.
Construction of the demonstration plant is expected to begin in late 2017.
The pre-commercial phase will provide 180-300 jobs during construction. Around 140 of these will be based in the Latrobe Valley. The expanded commercial operation, which is expected to be in place by 2019, will provide up to 120 full-time jobs.
The process
Victorian lignite (brown coal) is more than 60% water. This makes it costly to transport and emissions-intensive when used for traditional purposes such as power generation.
Our demonstration plant will use proven, licensed technology to process high-moisture, low rank Victorian lignite into export-grade, high-value manufacturing and agriculture products.
The process (known as Pyrolysis) will use thermochemical technology to heat the coal to high temperatures in an oxygen-free environment to extract moisture. The licensed technology we will use is low-pressure and uses minimal energy when compared with traditional processing methods.
Gas produced by the process will be captured and used on site to further reduce emissions.
The Pyrolysis technology we will be using is new to Australia but has been tested and used for commercial operations overseas, including using Victorian lignite.
The products
Compared to many other brown coals Yallourn lignite is very clean. It is low in ash, sulphur, phosphorus and other impurities, making it ideal for steel making and other industrial uses once upgraded. Our plant will create four products.
- Prime PCI Coal/Semi Coke
Pulverised coal injection (PCI) is used to make steel. Mixing Prime PCI Coal with traditional coking coal improves the performance and efficiency of blast furnaces and reduces CO2 emissions by up to 20%. Prime PCI Coal/Semi Coke can also be used in the chemical and ferrochrome (an alloy of chromium and iron) industries. - Pyrolysis oil
Pyrolysis oil can be distilled into many products, including light oil, phenol oil, bitumen, naphthalene, diesel oil, and oil for industrial heating. - Ammonium sulphate
Ammonium sulphate can be sold domestically as a fertiliser and soil conditioner. It is in high demand on Australia’s eastern seaboard states. - Synthesis gas
Synthesis gas produced at the plant will be used for heating in the pyrolysis process. Synthesis gas is high in hydrogen and low in CO2. This results in very low CO2 emissions when it is combusted. The emissions of CO2 will be around 0.115 tonnes of CO2 per tonne of raw coal. This is about 10% of the emissions of current uses. In the future the synthesis gas can also be processed to produce hydrogen – an extremely clean, high energy fuel with zero emissions.
The plant will aim to produce 450,000 tonnes of Prime PCI Coal/Semi coke each year, around 70,000 tonnes of oil and 15,000 tonnes of fertiliser.
Our major customers will be steel makers who use PCI in their blast furnaces. Agreements are being finalised in Japan, Korea and China.
Project timeline
We received $30 Million of Australian and Victorian Government ALDP funding in 2014. Since then we have been refining our processes to further reduce waste water, improving our product to meet market needs, and securing additional financial backing from private investors.
We are now ready to finalise environment and planning approvals.
Key permits required are
- Works Approval from the Environment Protection Authority
- A building permit from Council.
The Works Approval will be submitted in February 2017 and we expect to receive approval in mid 2017.
We will also submit an EES referral to the Victorian Minister for Planning in February 2017 who will determine if an EES is required. Because the plant is on an existing industrial site and requires an EPA Works Approval it is considered unlikely an EES will be required.
The building permit will be submitted in January 2017.
We expect construction to commence in late 2017, approximately six months after we receive all approvals. We expect the plant will take 18 months to build.
Project partners
CEA is pleased to be working with experienced technical and project management partners.
- Energy Australia will host the project site and provide coal and other services
- GHD will provide feasibility studies, planning and approvals, construction project management and design assistance.
Downloads