LETA announces $6 million in support for Australian-developed clinker carbon capture tech

Low Emission Technology Australia (LETA), a group that invests money in decarbonisation technology on behalf of the coal industry, has announced a commitment for $6 million in support for a project to demonstrate carbon capture from clinker production.

In a statement on Thursday, LETA said it was partnering with KC8 Capture Technologies on the PACER (Potassium Carbonate Absorption for Clinker Emissions Reduction) project, which aims to capture as much as 95 per cent of emissions created through clinker production.

Clinker (pictured) is an intermediate product used in cement production and is made by sintering clays and limestone.

PACER will be trialled at Cement Australia’s Gladstone facility, using existing cement production infrastructure. LETA’s support is for “testing, validation, and optimisation of the technology” in the initial phase, with the project to then “look to move towards large-scale implementation.”

Greg Ross, Executive Director for KC8, said, “While we are already underway with a commercial demonstration in the USA, we are first and foremost an Australian company and want to be able to support Australia’s heavy industries to achieve our common climate reduction goals.  

“With LETA’s support, our aim is to demonstrate that it is possible to remove millions of tons of CO2 from flue gases economically using existing assets”

Mark McCallum, LETA’s CEO, said, “By combining LETA’s deep expertise in low-emission technologies with KC8’s innovative potassium carbonate absorption technology, we are confident that PACER will make a substantial contribution to reducing carbon emissions in the cement industry.

“It is technologies like PACER that are going to help us reduce emissions here in Australia and around the world. This is good for Australian jobs, Australian workers in our regions, and for Australian businesses looking to lower their emissions now and into the future.”

LETA – formerly known as Coal21 – supports research through a voluntary levy from coal producers reported to be 10 cents per tonne.

Picture: credit Macau500/Wikipedia