After GHGT-14 I had the opportunity to visit the storage area of CTSCo's proposed CCS project. The Glenhaven proposed CO2 test injection site near the town of Wandoan, approximately 400km north west of Brisbane, Queensland.



The CO2 injection at Glenhaven is proposed to take place in the deep precipice sandstone formation around 1.2km underground.



This demonstration project is currently in its Study phase and is being carried out on behalf of the black coal industry, funded by the Coal21 Fund and the Australian Government, to assess and, if possible, demonstrate the technical viability, integration and safe operation of carbon capture and storage (CCS) in the Surat Basin.



The Surat Basin was chosen to host this demonstration project for a number of reasons.



The first is the 2009 National Carbon Storage Taskforce report and the Queensland Government Greenhouse Gas Storage Atlas identified the Surat Basin as a key storage area.



Secondly this Government study identified almost 3 billion tonnes of CO2theoretical storage potential in this particular Basin. The Precipice Sandstone formation accounts for 1.3 billion tonnes of theoretical storage potential.



And finally, there are a significant number of coal-fired power stations nearby in the Surat Basin, meaning the source of the CO2 and the storage are co-located, reducing transportation costs.



In addition to the Coal21 and the Australian Government funding for the current stage of activity, additional financial support for separate research and development projects to support the feasibility study has been provided by ANLEC R&D. The Bureau of Economic Geology at the University of Texas is working on the near-surface environmental monitoring in this phase, funded by ANLEC R&D.



The project is currently preparing its application to seek a permit to test inject a maximum of 180,000 tonnes of CO2 at Glenhaven from a power station in the region. A Post Combustion Capture plant is being proposed at Millmerran coal power station, some 250km south east of Wandoan, as the source of the CO2 for the test injection. A team from the International CCS Knowledge Centre were considering the capture aspects and visiting the Millmerran power plant in the same week as my visit. A final investment decision, along with the appropriate government permits and approvals, will also be required before the project can proceed to the test injection phase.



This is one of the three potential new CCS projects in Australia, with South West Hub and CarbonNet being the others. Thank you to CTSCo and Glencore for hosting this visit. I will follow the progress of this project with great interest and wish it all success.



Log onto the project website at www.ctsco.com.au for more information.



Note: The CTSCo (Carbon Transport and Storage Company) is a subsidiary of Glencore and funded by the COAL21 fund. ANLEC R&D (stakeholders: the Commonwealth Government and the COAL21 fund ) funds research projects which address and accelerate the project objectives. 

Glenhaven proposed CO2 test injection site. Katherine Romanak, Univ of Texas BEG, Paul Jensen, ALS, Steve Zegelin, retired CSIRO, Tim Dixon, IEAGHG, Rick Matthews, Wandoan Coal Project, Glencore. Photo credit - Stephanie Tyiasning, ANLEC R&D