The Arckaringa Project is not just another coal mine
Rather than just simply burn coal, the Project will convert the coal into a range of high value, clean transport fuels and co-generation power.
It is fundamental to Altona’s philosophy, as a company, to minimise any actual and potential environmental damage, including carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions.
Altona believes that with the application of the right technology, including carbon capture and storage (CCS), it can produce fuel products which, on a well to wheel basis, result in a lower emissions footprint than using conventional fuels and technology.
The Arckaringa Project will not be approved and will not receive a Water Allocation Licence without a sustainable Groundwater Management Plan (GMP) - see Project Components - Mine Dewatering.
This project will be developed along sound environmental lines; it will operate in an environmentally responsible way; and it will make a contribution to a cleaner environment through its production of cleaner fuels and cleaner generation of electricity, augmented by carbon capture and the potential for sequestration.
Altona has a clear commitment to environmental management as a cornerstone of our social licence to operate.
New Generation Coal: Feedstock of the Future
The Arckaringa Project is not just another coalmine. It will produce 21st century value added products from this hydrocarbon store, creating South Australia’s Energy Bank.
Reduced emission synthetic fuels may be an interim step in transport fuels until zero emissions methods are sufficiently developed to work effectively.
- Burning coal is 19th century; creating clean energy and hydrocarbon products
from coal is 21st century.
- South Australia is at the forefront of developing diversified power
sources.
- Renewable energies cannot be relied upon for base load power at present,
or for transport purposes.
- The proposed plan incorporates CCS from the beginning:
- It is designed to capture all the CO2 from the gasification process (41% of total plant CO2 emissions) and intended to capture up to 90 per cent of total CO2 emissions, making it one of the least polluting conventional generation plants in the world.
- The synthetic fuels produced will have a lower well to wheel carbon footprint than mineral diesel.
- Synthetic fuels combust to produce lower particulates emission and sulphur compounds, having significant benefits, particularly in urban environments.
- As currently proposed, the plant would produce cleaner liquids and electricity than currently available because of its significant CCS component.
CCS is the primary CO2 emission management strategy for the project, although other CO2 mitigation measures, including bio-sequestration, are likely to be evaluated during the FFS.
TOP