As of September 30, 2016, the Carbon Capture and Sequestration Technologies program at MIT has closed. The website is being kept online as a reference but will not be updated.

BP Rio Tinto Kwinana (DF3) Fact Sheet: Carbon Dioxide Capture and Storage Project

Company/Alliance: BP and Rio Tinto: Hydrogen Energy

Location: Kwinana, Western Australia

Feedstock: Coal to Hydrogen

Size: 500 MW, 4 million tonnes of CO2 per year captured and stored, 80% total emissions

Capture Technology: IGCC/Pre combustion

CO2 Fate: Sequestration in saline formation 35 km offshore beneath the seabed of Perth basin at a depth of 2 km.

Timing: Cancelled
Previous Timing: Stakeholder and community consultation (2007), initial engineering and feasibility studies (2007), testing of offshore saline formation (2007-2010), investment decision (2011), operation (2014)

Motivation/Economics:

The cost of the project is estimated at AUD$2 billion (US$ 1.5 billion) and will provide 15% of the power demand for southwest Western Australia.

Comments:

Kwinana was thought to be an ideal location because it is near industrial operations and only 45 km from the increasing power demand in Perth. However this project has been cancelled as a result of lack of suitable rock formations around Perth. The geological strata contain gas chimney's which would make it impossible to seal in the CO2.

Project Link: Hydrogen Energy (Kwinana project website removed)

Other Sources and Press Release:
Rio Tinto, BP planning $2b clean coal project (May 2007)