Cool Energy
Carbon Research Centre

Cool Energy's novel CO2 capture technology, CryoCell®, is currently in operation at Cool Energy's Carbon Research Centre at the Xyris plant site in the Perth Basin. Testing of the technology was successfully completed in August 2007. The Xyris plant is owned by ARC Energy Limited and Origin Energy Limited and operated by ARC.

The purpose of the demonstration was to move from proven laboratory tests of 200,000 standard cubic feet per day to 2 million standard cubic feet per day (10 times larger). The field trial was designed to verify the CO2 separation capability of the CryoCell® technology by achieving the laboratory results under field operating conditions.

Cool Energy's CO2 capture plant was fabricated by Process Group in Bayswater, Victoria. Process Group was chosen to take on this project due to their expertise in process engineering coupled with excellent experience in fabricating skid-mounted gas processing plants.

The Basis of Design for the plant, initially developed by PCT Engineers of Perth in 2004, was further developed by Cool Energy with Professor Robert Amin and his team at the Woodside Hydrocarbon Research Facility (WHRF). The final design was finished in March 2005 and the contract for the Engineering, Procurement and Fabrication was awarded to Process Group Pty Ltd of Bayswater, Victoria.

The plant was delivered to site by Process Group in December 2005 and was installed and integrated into the existing Xyris gas plant. A formal agreement between ARC Energy Limited, Cool Energy Limited, Woodside Energy Limited and the Curtin University of Technology outlined the responsibilities of each party during the installation, testing and operating phases of the demonstration.

Following the installation and commissioning, Cool Energy led intensive testing throughout 2006–2007.

The CryoCell® demonstration has a CO2 recycle incorporated into the design, which allowed a build up of CO2 to approximately 8% in the feed gas. CO2 required for tests beyond the 8% was purchased from Air Liquide and 'spiked' into the process. While the objective of the demonstration was to remove CO2 down to pipeline specifications, further testing will be carried out to duplicate success in the laboratory for removal of CO2 down to the requirements necessary for LNG production. Following completion of all tests, the plant will be used for customer demonstrations. Potential users of the technology have been very interested in viewing the plant while it is operating.