Members of the Anglo American plc Board of Directors, including Chairman Sir John Parker and Chief Executive, Cynthia Carroll, today visited the MBD Energy Research Facility at James Cook University (JCU) in Townsville, Queensland, to see first-hand ground breaking carbon reduction technology that could potentially cut carbon emissions at coal-fired power stations by 50 per cent.
The visit to JCU also included a briefing on the construction progress of MBD’s algae synthesiser display plant at Tarong Power Station, due for full commissioning early next year.
Sir John said Anglo American was proud to be a cornerstone investor in MBD Energy and to partner with an Australian company leading the way in biological carbon capture and recycling technology to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
“We have invested more than $120 million in emission abatement technology over the past five years in Australia and the partnership with MBD is a key part of this,” Sir John said.
Anglo American’s Chief Executive, Cynthia Carroll, said MBD’s ground breaking technology was leading the way in taking action to reduce carbon emissions and address climate change.
“Anglo American has been proactive in our approach to combating climate change and our early investment in MBD is evidence of the company's willingness to take action,” Ms Carroll said.
“Anglo American is also building on our relationship with MBD Energy and James Cook University to explore biological ways to reduce the methane contained within underground mine ventilation air, for which there is currently no technology to abate.”
MBD Energy Managing Director, Andrew Lawson, met with the official party from Anglo American, and provided an update on construction of the Tarong display plant, the company’s first project of a number of algal synthesiser carbon capture and recycling projects that MBD has in planning with three of Australia’s largest coal fired power stations.
“The MBD facility at Tarong Power Station is first to put our leading-edge Biological Carbon Capture and Recycling technology into practice,” Mr Lawson said.
“The Algal Synthesiser is designed to feed off the power station’s emissions to produce nutritious algal biomass that will be evaluated for use in the potential downstream commercial production of sustainable alternate new supplies of animal feed, biofuels and fertilisers,” Mr Lawson said.
“We are currently constructing a one hectare Algae Synthesiser display plant at Tarong Power Station that we will use to evaluate the effectiveness of CO2 abatement, the efficiency with which large-scale production of algal biomass can be achieved, and ultimately the feasibility of potential scale-up at one or more of our three power station project sites to a large industrial-scale emissions abatement and biomass production facility.
“Algal biomass uses the unwanted industrial waste as nutrient feedstock to grow, doubling in mass each day or two.
“The harvested biomass is rich in oil, protein and overall nutrition and our scientific and technical team has calculated that each million tonnes of captured and recycled coalfired power station CO2 could be worth about $250 million in earnings from production of feed, fuel and fertiliser algal feedstock.
“Ultimately, if we can build an algal synthesiser that’s as efficient as we believe we can make it, it should be possible to cut a coal-fired power station’s emissions by up to 50 per cent,” Mr Lawson said.
Contact:
Metallurgical Coal External Affairs:
Jacqui Strambi: 0439 774 526
MBD Energy Limited Communications Director:
Peter Cassuben: (02) 9965 9301; 0417 980 009
Notes to editors:
Anglo American plc is one of the world’s largest mining companies, is headquartered in the UK and listed on the London and Johannesburg stock exchanges. Its portfolio of mining businesses spans precious metals and minerals – in which it is a global leader in both platinum and diamonds; base metals – copper and nickel; and bulk commodities – iron ore, metallurgical coal and thermal coal. Anglo American is committed to the highest standards of safety and responsibility across all its businesses and geographies and to making a sustainable difference in the development of the communities around its operations. The company’s mining operations and extensive pipeline of growth projects are located in southern Africa, South America, Australia, North America and Asia.
www.angloamerican.com