A Dutch company will soon begin work on a nearly $10 million large-scale mercury waste treatment facility in Kwinana, as increased LNG exports lead to higher volumes of the toxic metal.
A Dutch company will soon begin work on a nearly $10 million large-scale mercury waste treatment facility in Kwinana, as increased LNG exports lead to higher volumes of the toxic metal.
This month BMT Mercury Treatment will begin construction of a plant that will be capable of processing 1,000 tonnes of mercury waste annually, the first industrial-scale treatment facility in Western Australia, according to BMT general manager, Oceania Karen Boyce.
Mercury is generally a by-product of oil and gas production, and the level of waste requiring processing in WA is growing as major projects come online.
Three new LNG plants were switched on in the past decade and more are soon to start operation.
Business News understands BMT will have two competitors – a facility operated by CMA Ecocycle in Victoria, and a new plant to be built in Karratha by Contract Resources.
CMA has an existing receival operation in Landsdale.
BMT is expecting to begin construction of its plant in the coming months, with operations starting early next year.
“We were encouraged to come to Australia by our existing (oil and gas) customers,” Ms Boyce told Business News.
Mercury is a common impurity in extracted natural gas, and must be removed to avoid damage to later stages of the processing system.
“There’s also quite a bit of mercury in the gas phase, and that’s where it’s particularly important to the LNG industry,” Ms Boyce said.
“(That portion) they take out using a catalyst or an absorbent, a solid material … that protects their downstream equipment.”
Processing plant operators then periodically need to clean the absorbents, with BMT’s plant able to recover the metals used in the absorbents for recycling.
Ms Boyce said changes to international laws tightening the usage, transport and disposal of mercury had provided impetus for local treatment.
BMT would stabilise the mercury to be similar to its form during extraction and store it in secure geological repositories, she said.
About a $1 billion of waste treatment projects are under way or planned in WA.
Among them is Phoenix Energy and Macquarie Capital’s $400 million waste-to-energy plant in Kwinana.
New Energy Corporation is spending a similar amount on a waste-to-energy facility in Rockingham, and a further $200 million on a plant in Port Hedland.
