German engineering and industrial gases firm Linde has agreed an initial deal with Australian energy firm Optimal Group to study the development of a bioLNG facility at the 18,000 t/yr Westbury LNG plant in Tasmania, with the new plant to use waste to produce around 2.4TJ/d (64,000 m³/d) of gas at a cost of A$55mn ($39mn).
The existing Westbury plant is operated by Linde subsidiary BOC and its Australian gas business Elgas and supplies LNG to industrial customers in Tasmania. The biogas plant will provide biomethane to BOC's micro-LNG plant, which will then be processed into bioLNG and distributed to customers in agriculture, food processing and other industries, Optimal said.
Optimal plans to have 10 grid-scale biogas projects in Australia with a mix of biogas-to-grid and biogas-to-LNG within 10 years, said Optimal chief executive Craig Dugan.
Tasmania's state government has passed legislation to target net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. It will review the target and accompanying policies every five years.
