JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – The government of Australia has granted A$8.7-million to Carbon Transport and Storage Company (CTSCo), a wholly-owned subsidiary of triple-listed Glencore for its carbon capture and storage project in Queensland’s Surat basin.

This funding, provided by the Department of Industry, Innovation and Science, will enable CTSCo to conduct a front-end engineering and design study, the next step in moving the project toward a final investment decision to undertake carbon dioxide (CO₂) storage at depths greater than a kilometre.

“This is an important development for the project and demonstrates the continuing contribution by Glencore and the coal industry to the research and development of low-emission technology solutions for fossil fuels that can be scaled up safely and commercially around the world,” said Glencore global coal business group executive and World Coal Association chairperson Mick Buffier on Friday.

He added that the project highlighted the important role Australia was playing in developing solutions that could significantly reduce emissions from fossil fuels.

The technology can capture and store CO2 from coal- and gas-fired power stations, as well as a wide range of other industrial processes, such as steelmaking and chemical processes. It also plays a vital role in achieving ambitious climate change goals.

The CTSCo project is located within a single greenhouse-gas tenement, granted by the Queensland government in 2012, to be deployed on Glencore-owned land.

The latest federal government funding builds on significant financial contributions to the project made by the coal industry, the Queensland state government and Glencore.

The project will be subject to a range of local, state and federal government regulations including environmental, social and technical aspect assessments and approval processes. These will all need to be successfully completed prior to the demonstration project starting in 2019.

Meanwhile, carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects in North Australia was further bolstered by the Minister for Resources and Northern Australia Senator Matthew Canavan who granted more than A$23-million for the sector.

The investment will help develop CCS technologies that can potentially reduce emissions by around 90% from fossil fuel electricity generation.

CCS is already operating commercially with SaskPower’s Boundary Dam project, in Canada, the world’s first coal-fired power plant with CCS. It’s achieving an emissions reduction of one-million tonnes of CO₂ a year.

The Australian coal industry is a major investor in the research and development of new coal emission reduction technologies.

Through the Acalet Coal 21 Fund, the industry has made substantial investments in CCS projects and supports the research, development and demonstration of cleaner coal technologies. The Coal21 Fund is a joint financier of the CTSCo project and has already invested more than A$9-million in the project.

Coal accounts for 41% of the world’s electricity generation and 70% of Australia’s grid electricity and is essential in the manufacture of modern infrastructure.