Siemens coal gasifiers to Australia

ERLANGEN, Germany, June 17 (UPI) -- German-based Siemens Energy will supply coal gasification to Australia.

This is the first time the energy giant has announced it will share its developed technology with an Australian project.

Australian Energy Co. Ltd., an independent project development company, has acquired a license for two 500-megawatt coal gasifiers. The two gasifiers will be sent to a fertilizer plant in Latrobe Valley in the state of Victoria, where they are to be used to convert lignite to ammonia.

In an adjacent plant the ammonia will be used to produce the fertilizer urea. After commissioning in 2012, the plant will have an annual production capacity of approximately 1.2 million tons of urea.

The fertilizer production plant is located in Victoria in the vicinity of the Loy Yang mine and will use the extensive lignite available there as feedstock for fertilizer production. Beginning in 2015, a second phase of the project will make a provision for the carbon dioxide generated during fertilizer production to be transported via a pipeline for storage in the carbon dioxide dumps in Bass Strait off the south coast of Australia.