Australia's EMRC, Woodside collaborate on pilot carbon capture plant

Australia's Eastern Metropolitan Regional Council and Woodside are collaborating on a carbon capture and utilization pilot plant in Western Australia state using waste, the energy firm said May 5.

The two parties have agreed to set the terms of a proposed option to lease land that will enable Woodside to use EMRC's Red Hill Waste Management Eco Park for the proposed facility, according to the statement.

"Woodside's climate strategy has two key elements: reducing our net equity Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions, and investing in the products and services that our customers need as they too reduce their emissions," Meg O'Neill, CEO of Woodside, said.

The proposed carbon capture facility will convert greenhouse gases, such as methane and carbon dioxide into value-added ethanol, using technologies developed by US companies ReCarbon and LanzaTech, the statement said. ERMC will supply landfill gas to Woodside.

"The pilot aims to demonstrate that the integration of these technologies has the potential to contribute to decarbonization and a circular carbon economy," the statement said.

The option to lease and construction of the carbon capture facility is subject to a final investment decision by Woodside in the second half of 2022, with targeted completion and commissioning in the second half of 2024, the statement added.

Woodside has a target for net-zero by 2050 or sooner, it said on its website.

EMRC is a regional local government working on behalf of five member councils located in Perth's eastern region that covers a third of Perth's metropolitan area and is home to 338,000 people. It provides waste management, resource recovery, natural and urban environmental management and regional development.

Woodside is complementing its hydrocarbon business with hydrogen, ammonia and solar projects in Australia and internationally. It has hydrogen and ammonia projects H2Perth in Western Australia and H2TAS in Tasmania and a hydrogen project H2OK in North America.

In November 2021, Woodside, BP and Japan Australia LNG Pty Ltd, which is owned by Mitsubishi Corporation and Mitsui & Co., Ltd., agreed to form a consortium to progress feasibility studies for a large-scale, multi-user carbon capture and storage project near Karratha in Western Australia.