'Clean coal' capture plant opened in Queensland

A small-scale CC(S is pending) project in Australia has been completed, with funding from the Japanese goverment.

'Clean coal' capture plant opened in Queensland - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation):

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The coal industry says it has made a giant step forward with the opening of Australia's first 'clean coal' carbon capture plant.
The $200 million Callide Oxyfuel project, launched on the weekend, will trap greenhouse gas generated by CS Energy's Callide A coal-fired power station in Biloela, central Queensland.
The project, which is backed by the Japanese government, is designed to test the viability of clean coal technology under Australian conditions.
Project director Chris Spero says the plant uses an oxyfuel combustion process, which burns coal with pure oxygen for less waste; then traps and stores the greenhouse gases rather than releasing them into the atmosphere.
"This project is designed to catch over 85 per cent of the CO2, of the flue gases being treated," he told AM.

The rural power plant generates 30 megawatts, only enough to power about 30,000 homes, but it will test of the viability of retrofitting existing power stations with the technology.

Continue reading at ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)


It's strange Australia didn't see value in the project, given it's enormous exports of coal - a fuel the International Energy Agency now sees displacing oil as the world's top source of energy within five years.

A tangentially related story of the day might give reason to reflect if this is the best use of Japanese debt, in light of high deficits and an aging population that it's difficult to see not being an impediment to growing an economy rapidly enough to get out of deficit and begin reducing debt:

"There are now more adult diapers sold in Japan than baby diapers."