Mitsubishi to build coal gasification plant in Sumatra
Wednesday, January 4 2012 - 02:49 AM WIB
Mitsubishi Corp of Japan plans to build a coal gasification plant in Sumtara to process low rank coal into substitute natural gas (SNG) synthetis in cooperation with the Indonesian government.
Widjajono Partowidagdo, vice minister of energy and mineral resources, said in Jakarta on Tuesday that the Japanese conglomerate planned to begin the construction of the coal gasification plant this year.
He said that the government?s representatives would soon meet with Mitsubishi to discuss details of the cooperation. ?We will meet them this week,? he added.
In September, last year, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI) and Mitsubishi Corporation (MC) announced that they had agreed with the Indonesian government to collaborate in a large-scale substitute natural gas (SNG) synthesis project utilizing Indonesia?s abundant low rank coal as a follow up of Indonesia-Japan Energy Round Table held in November 2010.
A feasibility study (FS) has already gotten under way with support from the Indonesian and Japanese governments. MHI, MC and Indonesian partners plan to complete the F/S by March 2012, targeting inauguration of commercial operation at a new SNG synthesis plant in 2017.
The project plans call for production of SNG at the new plant, to be built by MHI and Indonesian partners, through coal gasification using abundant LRC in Sumatra.
Consumer of the gas is still being studied and will be determined after the feasibility study is completed. The large amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) produced as a ?by-product? of the plant?s operation will be sequestered deep underground applying a carbon capture and storage (CCS) system.
The project will also study partial use of the CO2 for enhanced oil recovery (EOR). EOR is a method for boosting crude oil production by injecting CO2 into an oil reservoir suffering from low productivity ? a feat difficult to achieve using conventional methods.
Editing by Roffie Kurniawan