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Water Bioremediation

Tarong Power Station

MBD Energy Limited is well advanced in the construction of a one hectare carbon capture and recycling Algal Synthesiser Display Plant at Tarong Power Station near Nanango in the southeast region of Queensland.

Comprising four coal-fired units with a gross generating capacity of 1,400 megawatts (MW), Tarong Power Station became part of the largest generator in Queensland in July 2011 when it joined Queensland Government-owned Stanwell Corporation. MBD Energy Limited reached a joint development agreement to develop a one hectare Algal Synthesiser Display Plant at the power station in November 2009.

The Algal Synthesiser Display Plant is planned to occupy a one hectare site adjacent to Tarong Power Station and, depending on a successful demonstration of carbon abatement and algal biomass production trials at the facility this year, MBD hopes to use the facility as a blue-print for a much larger potential commercial-scale facility at one or more of the coal fired power stations the company has early stage agreements with.

Algal Synthesis involves the injection of captured flue-gases into a water growth medium contained in large, elongated plastic membranes to produce a rapid expansion of algal biomass (approximating up to a doubling every 24 to 48 hours). This algal biomass, grown from locally selected strains of micro algae in order to protect local biodiversity, may therefore be harvested daily.

Future potential uses of much larger commercial harvests of algae biomass include nutritious, lower-methane animal feeds, fertilisers, solid fuel briquettes, and biomass feedstock for the production of transport fuels.

Subject to trials and continued improvements in yield it is possible that at a larger commercial scale, the supply of algal biomass for product applications may generate sufficient earnings to help offset the cost of building and operating such a greenhouse gas emissions reduction technology, thus potentially helping deliver cleaner electricity production at the lowest possible cost to consumers, whilst also significantly reducing net CO2 emissions.

MBD expects to rigorously trial all aspects of the one hectare Tarong Algal Synthesiser Display Plant over an 18 month period. Subject to performance and careful assessment of the feasibility of scale-up, construction of a commercial operation may commence in the second half of 2014.

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