NSW Government, Commonwealth Government (under National Low Emission Coal Initiative (NLECI) funding) and Australian Coal Association Low Emission Technology (ACALET) have signed a funding agreement ($28.3m) with Delta Electricity for a ‘Development and Approvals’ Stage (Stage 1) for the Delta Demonstration Project.  The project was officially announced 25 March 2010.

The (complete) Project is to demonstrate post-combustion capture, transport and permanent geological storage of carbon dioxide (up to 100,000 tonnes of CO₂ per annum in a saline aquifer) from a black coal power station.

Stage 1 is essentially an approvals stage, the development of a storage site and Front End Engineering and Design (FEED) stage. This stage will pioneer in NSW:

• community engagement on a CCS project
• gaining exploration permits for CO₂ storage
• establishment of storage leases
• planning and environmental approvals for CCS

Stage 2 will demonstrate the integrated process:

• validate Post-Combustion Capture Technology on NSW coals
• verify geological storage techniques

Preliminary work has commenced on the approvals process. The combined in-principle funding commitment (from the 3 funding partners) for both stages of the Project is $150 million (a more definitive cost will be known once Stage 1 is complete).

A separate Munmorah CO₂ Capture Pilot Plant ($7m) has been operating for 2 years, a joint venture between Delta Electricity and CSIRO.  This project has recently received Clean Coal Fund funding.

• Munmorah CO₂ capture pilot plant trials using chilled aqueous ammonium
• Capture rates > 90% achieved
• High purity CO₂ product > 98.5 %
• High SO₂ removal using ammonia wash water
• The results of this pilot will feed into the Delta CCS demonstration project.