Recovering Thermal Energy from Combustion of Waste Coal Mine Gas - BHP
GREENHOUSE GAS ABATEMENT PROGRAM PROJECT
Project management: BHP Billiton
Project details:
- The West Cliff Ventilation Air Methane Project (WestVAMP) project aims to deliver effective greenhouse gas abatement through utilising methane gas from coal mine ventilation air for power generation.
- Methane is a significant contributor to the greenhouse effect with a global warming potential 21 times greater than carbon dioxide. Methane from coal mining accounts for 3.4 per cent of all greenhouse gas emissions in Australia. Normally methane is vented to the atmosphere for safety, but now power stations can use the methane as an energy source (natural gas contains around 90 per cent methane).
- BHP Billiton and Endeavour Coal are building a power plant near Appin, at the West Cliff Colliery in the Illawarra region of New South Wales.
- This project will apply innovative VOCSIDIZER™ technology to coal mine methane on a large scale.
GGAP funding: Up to $6 million was approved under the GGAP.
Total project cost: Approximately $29.8 million.
Environmental achievements:
- Expected greenhouse gas abatement:
Total abatement of 1.04 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent is expected in the Kyoto commitment period 2008 to 20012. - Displacement of coal fuelled electricity:
Use of methane offsets traditional coal fuel generated power. The project will generate 6 MW of electricity from the steam turbine which will be a source of energy to be used within the West Cliff Colliery.
Technical summary:
The project uses existing technology applied to methane for the first time on a commercial scale. The VOCSIDIZER™ allows for flameless combustion of low concentrations of methane into carbon dioxide and water vapour. High efficiency heat exchangers will recover large levels of thermal energy to produce steam. This steam will be used to drive a conventional turbine to produce 6 MW of electricity that will be used by the West Cliff Colliery. The VOCSIDIZER™ technology was developed by Swedish emission control specialist MEGTEC System AB. The technology was first piloted at Illawarra Coal's Appin Colliery in 2001 and the West Cliff project is the final step in proving the technology for use in mine ventilation air.
Note: Carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2-e) is the basis for comparing the warming effect of a greenhouse gas as compared to carbon dioxide and is calculated by multiplying the mass of a greenhouse gas by its global warming potential.
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