Australia launches CCS project

Australia has launched its first carbon capture and storage (ccs) project. Touted as the deepest geological storage of CO2, the project will capture and compress about 100,000 tonnes of CO2 and inject it into a depleted natural gas reservoir two km underground.

While there are similar carbon storage facilities in Norway and Algeria, the project aims to examine the viability of ccs technology in reducing the carbon footprint of coal. Australia, which heavily relies on coal for 85 per cent of its energy, is currently looking into means to sequester carbon emissions from coal-fired power stations. But no project has ever been successful in storing CO2 from coal-fired power stations.