EDL awarded $9 million to investigate carbon capture from biomethane for use in concrete production

Sustainable energy producer EDL has been awarded $9 million by the Australian Department of Industry, Science and Resources towards the company’s study to capture carbon dioxide (CO2) from biomethane production waste streams for injection into concrete.

EDL Chief Executive Officer James Harman said the study is the first step of a project that would leverage many of EDL’s key strengths—proven success in renewable natural gas (RNG, or biomethane) developments in the United States of America, 30 years of innovation in the landfill gas to energy space, as well as expertise in gas liquefaction.

“In landfills across Australia, organic material naturally decays and emits waste gases primarily consisting of methane and CO2.

“For more than three decades, EDL has extracted methane for conversion to electricity at our landfill gas power stations. Now, we have the knowledge and technology from our US projects to convert landfill waste gases into biomethane, which involves the removal of CO2 and nitrogen.

“This study will investigate how EDL can purify, compress, liquefy and store the highly concentrated CO2 stream for transportation to customers or use in carbonation curing. This process involves adding CO2 to concrete for strengthening, which results in less cement being required for concrete production—further reducing the carbon footprint of the concrete poured.”

Photo: EDL employee at our Indy High BTU Renewable Natural Gas Plant in Indiana, USA