Factors affecting the cost of capture for Australian lignite coal fired power plants

In Australia, one of the challenges in deploying CO2 capture and storage is the cost of implementing capture at the large number of lignite power plants. This study investigates the cost of retrofitting CO2 capture to a typical 500 MW lignite coal-fired power plant in Australia, and includes the costs for CO2 separation and compression of the CO2 in preparation for transport via pipeline to a storage site. The results show that the cost for CO2 capture using MEA solvent is over US$70 per tonne CO2 avoided. Using alternative solvent technology reduces the cost to less than US$30 (approximately A$35) per tonne CO2 avoided.