Woodside, EMRC to collaborate on carbon re-use

The Eastern Metropolitan Regional Council (EMRC) and Perth-based Woodside will work on a carbon-to-products pilot project that would recycle greenhouse gases into useful products, they said on May 5 in a joint statement.

The parties have agreed on a term sheet setting out the terms of a proposed option to lease land. The option will provide 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 ERMC to Woodside.

The proposed CCU facility would convert greenhouse gases, 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.

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 to occur in the second half of 2022, with a targeted completion and commissioning date in the second half of 2024.

Founded in 1983, the EMRC is a regional local government working on behalf of five member councils located in Perth's Eastern Region: Town of Bassendean, City of Bayswater, City of Kalamunda, Shire of Mundaring and City of Swan. The region covers a third of Perth’s metropolitan area and is home to 338,000 people.