Pilot partners with Australian carbon tech developer to slash Mid West industrial emissions

Pilot Energy has rolled out another potentially lucrative partnership in a bid to curb industrial emissions in Western Australia’s Mid West region.

Pilot Energy (ASX:PGY) has inked a memorandum of understanding with Australian carbon technology developer KC8 Capture Technologies to collaborate on a carbon capture and storage (CCS) service solution.

The partnership will target key emitters in the region adjacent to Pilot’s Cliff Head CCS project – one of Australia’s first offshore CCS projects.

Importantly, this latest collaboration broadens the potential customer base for the Cliff Head CCS project and comes close on the heels of the recent MoU struck with Canada’s Svante Technologies – a Global Cleantech 100 heavyweight strategically backed by Samsung, GE, and Chevron.

Over 15 years, KC8 has developed a solvent-based process designed to capture up to 95% of CO2 emissions in post-combustion flue gases.

The tech is set to become one of the lowest cost post combustion CO2 capture technologies to be commercialised in the next few years.

“The KC8 team has been focused on the development and deployment of CCS here in Australia since its inception and has an excellent understanding not only of the technologies needed but also the operational considerations that major Australian industrial emitters have about integrating new technologies and carbon solutions into their existing operations,” Pilot Energy chairman Brad Lingo said.

Pilot and KC8 will initially aim to capture and store CO2 emissions associated with existing and proposed Mid West projects.

Once the carbon is captured, the plan is to inject it into Pilot’s Cliff Head offshore oil field –the only late-life offshore reservoir in the Mid West region with a Commonwealth regulatory pathway to CCS.

The CCS project is capable of storing over 1 million tonnes per annum of CO2 on a continuous basis through to 2050, with over 50 million tonnes of potential total storage capacity.

“We are extremely excited about being able to offer a comprehensive, cost-effective carbon capture and storage solution which Australian industrial carbon emitters need,” Lingo said.

Critical to Australia’s net zero ambitions

KC8 executive director Greg Ross labelled the partnership a “critical CCS development for Australia”.

“CCS is a major part of the global decarbonisation road map and is critical to Australia in meeting its 2050 climate targets,” he said.

“This is a great opportunity for two Australian companies to demonstrate the cost-effective capture and sequestration of CO2 from hard to abate industries in WA. We look forward to successfully progressing this agreement through to a full commercial demonstration supporting the Cliff Head CCS project.”

KC8 is currently developing two commercial demonstration plants, one in the US with the Department of Energy and one in Queensland, with the support of Cement Australia.

Engineering work on the Queensland project, known as PACER, has been completed with the project now moving into the fabrication stage.

This unit will be completed in early 2024 and installed at Cement Australia’s Gladstone cement manufacturing plant.

Designed to demonstrate the commercial scalability of KC8’s technology, the plant will capture up to 15 tonnes per day of CO2 directly from the clinker kiln flue stack.

Once commissioned, the plant is expected to operate throughout 2024 to confirm long term operating characteristics.

Pilot’s Cliff Head CCS project will provide the foundation for eventual hydrogen and ammonia production, with the staged Mid West Clean Energy project targeting over 1.2 million tonnes each year of low-cost, clean ammonia for export while capturing around 99% of the carbon emissions generated.

This article was developed in collaboration with Pilot Energy, a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publishing.

This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.