Coal Mine Methane - Coal Bed Methane - Coal Seam Methane - Power Generation

The Envirogen Group...

Envirogen’s power stations generate electricity in an environmentally responsible manner
by utilising waste coal mine methane, as an alternative to traditional fossil fuel powered generation.

Coal Mine Methane (CMM), also known as Coal Bed Methane (CBM) and Coal Seam Methane (CSM) is embedded in coal seams and must be extracted prior to mining the coal for safety reasons. This gas has traditionally been flared or released directly into the atmosphere. Releasing the methane into the atmosphere however, is no longer a viable option in such a carbon constrained environment especially given that  methane is a particularly potent greenhouse gas with a global warming potential of 21 times that of carbon dioxide.

Envirogen provides a solution for coal mines by utilising the waste methane in power generation. Envirogen’s four power stations are located on the mine site and extract the gas to use in power generators. The power generation process converts the methane into carbon dioxide and water, thus abating significant greenhouse gas emissions. The process also has the benefit of producing electricity from a resource that would otherwise be wasted.

The Envirogen power stations are designed to be fully operational 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, with minimal staffing, ensuring maximum utilisation of the waste mine gas at the least cost. All stations are of a modular design and so require minimal plant upgrades to support capacity expansion to meet the mine’s generally increasing production of waste mine gas. Envirogen’s stations are state of the art, with the most recent station coming into service in late 2007. The majority of electricity produced by the power stations is used by the mine itself which reduces transmission losses associated with the supply of electricity to the mine from other sources. As a consequence, the coal mine owners are important partners for Envirogen.

Due to its ‘green’ credentials, Envirogen has successfully gained funding from the Australian Greenhouse Office through its Greenhouse Gas Abatement Program to partially fund the construction of its existing power stations.