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Brown Coal |
AIMR 2008 |
Brown Coal
Brown coal or lignite is a low rank, brownish-black coal which has a high moisture content of around 60%. In Australia brown coal deposits occur in all States and are Tertiary in age (15 to 50 million years old). Victoria has substantial deposits of brown coal, including the La Trobe Valley coalfield which contains some of the thickest seams in the world (up to 330 m thick). Brown coal is mined only in Vic where it is used mainly in mine mouth power stations. Briquettes are produced by Energy Brix Australia for industrial and domestic heating and Australian Char Pty Ltd produces brown coal char. At Maddingley a brown coal fertiliser is produced for the domestic market.
Resources
Recoverable EDR for 2007 was 37.3 Gt, the same as 2006. Recoverable PDR and SDR remained unchanged at 39 Gt and 16.3 Gt respectively. Recoverable inferred resources also remained unchanged at 100.8 Gt. Victoria accounts for more than 96% of Australia's identified resources of brown coal. All EDR are located in Victoria and about 93% of the total EDR is in the La Trobe Valley.
Accessible EDR
Approximately 86% of brown coal EDR is accessible. Quarantined resources include the Holey Plains State Park and the APM Mill site which was subjected to a 50 year ban on mining in 1980. The resource life of the accessible EDR of 32.3 Gt is about 490 years.
JORC Reserves
No brown coal resources are JORC Code compliant. However, Geoscience Australia has estimated reserves at the operating mines from published information. Reserves are about 4.9 Gt with almost 38% being at Loy Yang. The resource life of published reserves is more than 70 years.
Exploration
Data relating to exploration for brown coal specifically are not available nationally.
Production
Australian brown coal production for 2006-07, all of which was from Vic, was 65.6 Mt and was valued around $820 million. The La Trobe Valley mines of Yallourn, Hazelwood and Loy Yang produce about 98% of Australia's brown coal. Locally significant brown coal operations also occur at Anglesea and Maddingley.
World Ranking
Australia has about 25% of world recoverable brown coal EDR and is ranked first. However, it produces only about 8% of the world's brown coal and is ranked the fifth largest producer after Germany (21%), USA (9%), Russia (9%), USA and Greece (8%).
Industry Developments
Asia Pacific Coal and Steel Pty Ltd (100% owned by Environmental Solutions International Ltd): In September 2007 a 60 day production trial was completed on the Coldry process at the Maddingley brown coal mine near Bacchus Marsh. The Coldry process is a low pressure technology which expels 95% of the water from brown coal to produce a dense high energy pellet. The pellet improves the thermal efficiency of brown coal and can reduce CO2 emissions from current power stations by about 10%. The Coldry project has been supported with $238,000 from the Victorian Government's Sustainability Fund.
The $6.3 million Mechanical Thermal Expression (MTE) pilot plant at Long Yang commenced operation in November 2007 with testing expected to conclude in early 2008. The MTE process allows more than 70% of the water in brown coal to be removed with the potential to significantly reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions when the dry coal is burnt to generate electricity. The MTE project has been jointly funded by the Australian and Victorian Governments and five power generation companies. The MTE pilot plant project is the culmination of eight years of research undertaken by the Co-operative Research Centre for Clean Power from Lignite.
LaTrobe Lignite Developments Pty Ltd (LLD): LLD has Brown Coal Densification technology which removes water from brown coal to produce a low moisture coal, char and char-based products. LLD plans to develop a $400 million 100 MW power plant in the LaTrobe Valley in 2010 and a 1000 MW plant by 2015.
HRL Ltd and Harbin Power Equipment Group Corporation: The two companies plan to develop a $750 million 400 MW demonstration power plant based on HRL's Integrated Drying Gasification Combined Cycle technology (IDGCC). The project is expected to be operational in 2009. It is anticipated that it will result in CO2 emissions being reduced by 30% and water consumption by 50% compared to current power generation technology. The Australian and Victorian Governments have committed $100 million and $50 million respectively to this demonstration project.
Monash Energy: Anglo America and the Shell Group have formed an alliance to develop a $300 to $400 million demonstration coal-to-liquids plant near the Loy Yang power station. Construction is expected to begin in 2008 with commissioning to occur in 2010. If viable, a $5 billion, 25 Mtpa coal mine, drying and gasification plant, CO2 capture and storage system and a Fischer-Tropsch gas to liquids plant producing 60,000 barrels per day will be constructed by 2016.
International Power plc: Under the Hazelwood 2030 project International Power plans to spend $370 million to develop low emission technology. In 2007 a 1500 t sample of brown coal was sent to Germany for coal drying tests. In late 2007 construction started on a demonstration plant using complex technology which can reduce water content from 60% to 12% that was developed by RWE in Germany. The coal drying demonstration phase includes a boiler efficiency upgrade to one of Hazelwood's 200 MW generating units to reduce CO2 emissions by more than 20%. The Hazelwood 2030 project also involves the construction of a pilot carbon capture plant, which is scheduled for completion in late 2008. The project was awarded $50 million by the Australian Government and $30 million by the Victorian Government.
Spitfire Oil Ltd: At Salmon Gums about 100 km north of Esperance in WA, Spitfire plans to develop an open-cut mine and brown coal-to-liquids processing plant to extract oil and distillate products, mainly for the Kalgoorlie district. The 3.5 Mtpa operation is planned to produce about 270 million litres of oil products per annum over an initial 10 year mine life.
Hybrid Energy Australia: Hybrid is conducting a two year feasibility study into a 150 to 300 MW power station fuelled by coal from the Kingston deposit located about 250 km south east of Adelaide in South Australia. The FuturGas Project plans to use coal gasification and carbon capture and storage technology to produce baseload electricity by 2015.
