A clean technology company has lodged plans with City of Newcastle for a $12.7 million carbon capture demonstration plant at Kooragang Island.
The Newcastle Herald reported last year that Mineral Carbonation International (MCi) had won a $14.6 million grant from the former federal government to help fund the plant.
MCi, a joint venture between Orica and the Greenmag Group with support from University of Newcastle, will produce manufacturing and construction materials such as concrete and plasterboard at the new plant on Orica's Kooragang site.
The company describes the Newcastle project as a "world-first mineral carbonation mobile demonstration plant".
A Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) report last year found the "cost competitiveness of mineral carbonation in the near-term can drive opportunities to utilise waste from heavy industry and mining, lock away CO2 for the long term and lower the carbon intensity of the building industry".
MCi says the plant will have "direct access" to about 250,000 tonnes of captured carbon dioxide from Orica's manufacturing operations.
It was one of six new carbon capture projects funded nationally in regional areas to accelerate development of the technology in Australia.
"MCi uses carbon engineering processes to transform captured CO2 emissions from most industrial sources into solid materials that can be used to manufacture a range of low-carbon building and construction products," MCi board member Jez Smith told the Newcastle Herald last year.
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