The Queensland Ministry of State Development, Manufacturing, Infrastructure, and Planning reports that Australian Future Energy’s (AFE) A$1 billion Gladstone Energy and Ammonia project (GM Oct. 12, 2018), proposed for the Gladstone State Development Area, is one step closer to being built, as the terms for the project’s environmental impact statement (EIS) have been released. Once the EIS is completed and approved by Queensland’s independent Coordinator-General, the community will be invited to comment on the project.
The latest word on the project is that it would convert 1.5 million mt/y of coal to produce 230,000 mt/y of ammonia and 12 petajoules of synthetic natural gas. This is an adjustment for the figures released last fall – 330,000 mt/y of ammonia and eight petajoules. The project would source low-quality coal from Central Queensland. Waste gas and heat created through the process would be used to produce electrical power required for the plant operation, with surplus power exported to the grid when available.
Construction is expected to begin on the project in mid-2020, with the first ammonia production in mid-2022.