Funding for world-first carbon capture project

These granules are adsorbents, materials that attract and hold gases or liquids on their surface.

Researchers from Monash are taking part in a unique carbon dioxide pre-combustion capture project that will trial three technologies to find the most cost-effective for removing CO₂ from brown coal gasification power generation.

The Monash technology component is one of three being tested by the Cooperative Research Centre for Greenhouse Gas Technologies (CO2CRC), one of the world's leading carbon capture storage (CCS) research collaborations, in partnership with HRL Developments.

The $4.11 million CO2CRC/HRL Mulgrave Capture Project, at HRL's gasifier research facility at Mulgrave in Melbourne is supported by the Victorian Government's ETIS Brown Coal R&D fund and will evaluate solvent, membrane and adsorbent technologies for efficiency and cost-effectiveness in syngas power generation.

Australian carbon capture and storage research is part of an international drive to make deep cuts in global greenhouse gas emissions by capturing and storing CO₂ from major sources such as power stations.

If successful, the technology could reduce CO₂ emissions from the next generation of high-efficiency coal gasification power stations by 90 per cent.

Associate Professor Alan Chaffee from the School of Chemistry said the Monash team, which includes Professor Paul Webley from the Department of Chemical Engineering, postgraduate and postdoctoral students, was excited about getting out of the lab and undertaking research in an industrial environment.

"The Monash Chemical Engineering group is testing adsorption technology," Associate Professor Chaffee said.

"Simultaneously researchers in the School of Chemistry are developing novel high capacity adsorbent materials that would be used in a pressure swing adsorption process.

"We all know that the production of CO₂ contributes greatly to climate change.

"If successful, this technology could be used across the world – it's great that Monash can be a part of that."

CO2CRC Chief Technologist Barry Hooper said advanced gasifier technologies were highly suitable for carbon capture as they produced a concentrated stream of carbon dioxide that is easier to work with.

"Our key objective is to reduce the technical risk and cost of capturing CO₂. Projects such as this will help demonstrate that CCS is not only possible but practical," Mr Hooper said.