Jenbachers power Australia with waste coal mine gas

Anglo Coal, one of Australia’s largest coal mining companies, is now taking the methane-rich gas that would traditionally be vented into the air and turning it into electricity with 15 of GE Energy’s Jenbacher engines. A ceremony on September 29 marked the opening of the alternative energy plant, which will help the mine save 1.3 million tons of CO2 emissions annually — which is about the same as taking 330,000 cars off the road each year.

Green machine: The Jenbachers used to convert the gas are part of GE’s ecomagination line of more energy efficient products. The Jenbacher pictured above is currently converting coal mine gas to electricity in Ukraine. In that project, 22 Jenbachers generate 131 megawatts of electrical and thermal output — and reduce emissions equal to about 2.3 to 2.7 million tons of CO2 per year.

The new cogeneration plant at Anglo Coal’s Moranbah North mine provides a critical environmental benefit because methane has 21 times the greenhouse warming potential of carbon dioxide, the greenhouse gas most closely associated with climate change. Energy Developments Limited, owner and operator of the plant, will sell most of the plant’s 45.6 megawatts of electricity output back to the country’s national grid.

The Jenbacher technology being used is the same type featured in our recent stories about China’s largest chicken waste biogas plant and one of California’s largest landfill gas plants — both of which convert waste into energy while simultaneously reducing emissions.

Cleaner coal: The Moranbah North mine is located 1,117 kilometers north of Brisbane and is an underground mine that utilizes what’s known as “Longwall mining,” pictured above. One of the key benefits of GE’s Jenbacher gas engine technology is that it is flexible enough to handle fluctuating qualities in the gas itself — which has long been a technological obstacle in the industry. Jenbachers also can burn gas from both active as well as closed sections of mines.

* Read today’s announcement
* Read coverage in Australia’s Daily Mercury
* Read coverage on Australia’s national website
* Read coverage in Energy Business Review
* Read coverage in Australian Mining
* Read “GE’s Jenbacher: A burning desire for manure in Wis.” on GE Reports
* Read about Jenbachers powering greenhouses
* Learn how many cows, pigs or sheep it takes to power 900 homes
* Learn about waste-heat recovery
* Learn more about ecomagination
* Read about our biogas technology
* Watch a Jenbacher video