PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Oil and gas major Woodside on Thursday announced it would collaborate with Perth’s Eastern Metropolitan Regional Council (EMRC) on a carbon-to-products pilot project that will recycle greenhouse gases (GHGs) into useful products.

The two parties have agreed a term sheet setting out the terms of a proposed option to lease land, providing for Woodside’s use of EMRC’s Red Hill Waste Management Eco Park for a proposed pilot carbon capture and utilisation (CCU) facility, and for the supply of landfill gas by EMRC to Woodside.

The proposed CCU facility will convert GHGs, such as methane and carbon dioxide, into value-added ethanol, using technologies developed by US-based companies ReCarbon and LanzaTech.

The pilot aims to demonstrate that the integration of these technologies has the potential to contribute to decarbonisation and a circular carbon economy, Woodside told shareholders.

Following execution of the option to lease, exercise of the option to lease and construction of the CCU facility is subject to a final investment decision by Woodside targeted for the second half of 2022, with a targeted completion and commissioning date in the second half of 2024.

“Woodside believes CCU is an emerging field as customers seek lower-carbon solutions.

“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,” Woodside CEO Meg O’Neill said.

“CCU has the potential to contribute to both elements of our climate strategy. To have a pilot CCU facility right here in Western Australia, where Woodside has pioneered other technologies, is also very exciting,” she said.

EMRC CEO Marcus Geisler expressed his excitement at the development and said the project had the potential to shift the dial on the future treatment of GHGs as a resource, rather than a challenge.

“It will be these kinds of powerful collaborations and innovative decarbonisation initiatives that aim to deliver significant environmental and social benefits to Perth’s Eastern Region, Western Australia and the world.

“We’re very proud to be at the forefront of this ‘carbon to products’ opportunity with Woodside, rethinking and realising the full potential and value of otherwise wasted resources. This project is another example of EMRC’s arsenal of initiatives to move towards net zero,” he said.