The Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate (APPCDC) will facilitate further transfers of low-emission energy technology between Australia and its partners in the pact – which include China, India, Japan, South Korea and the US – according to Australian federal industry minister Ian Macfarlane.

“Australian researchers and industry groups are already taking an international lead in the development of cleaner energy technologies and the new partnership will bring their work to the fore,” Macfarlane said.

“This new partnership gives their work a gateway to the world’s largest energy users and will place their projects centre-stage as the attention swings to finding practical, technology-driven responses to the greenhouse challenge.

“Traditional fuel sources like coal and gas are here to stay for the next 200 years at least. This multi-national pact recognises that fact, giving new impetus to the industry and scientific work being done to improve our use of these fuels.”

Macfarlane cited the tri-lateral work on commercialising ultra clean coal undertaken by parties in Australia, Japan and China.

Developed by the CSIRO, ultra clean coal (UCC) is coal from which virtually all the mineral impurities have been chemically removed. It is practically ash-free but the process is suitable only for high-quality coals, according to CSIRO.

According to CSIRO, this high-purity coal can be fired directly into gas turbines to provide high-efficiency, reduced-emission power generation. If used as power-station fuel, the emissions from coal-fired stations could be cut by 25%. This can be translated to an overall reduction of 10% during its life cycle when mining, UCC production and transport are all taken into account.

The UCC process and technology are now owned by Sydney company UCC Energy, a subsidiary of White Mining Limited.

UCC Energy has provided treated coal for turbine assessment in Japan. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries is modifying high-temperature gas turbines to use UCC fuel.

UCC Energy already operates a fully integrated pilot plant in the Hunter Valley, and it has now signed an arrangement with Datang International Power to use the technology in China.

“The APPCDC partnership is timely as this project is building a tri-partite relationship with Japan and China to develop the first operational scale Ultra Clean Coal-fired power plant hopefully in time for the Beijing ‘Green’ Olympics,” said Macfarlane.

Tomorrow: China to use Australian coal mine methane technology for cleaner fuel and greater safety