Water treatment for coal seam gas industry

Construction in SW Queensland

QGC, an Australian coal seam gas explorer and producer, has signed a contract with a consortium of GE and Laing O’Rourke for the construction of a water-treatment plant in south-west Queensland that will support the region’s rapidly growing coal seam gas industry. Coal seam gas is a form of natural gas trapped in coal beds by water and ground pressure. High salinity water is produced as part of coal seam gas extraction, which must be treated in an environmentally responsible manner.

The Kenya water treatment plant will use GE’s advanced membrane and thermal water treatment technologies to desalinate water produced during the extraction of gas from the coal seams. This process will produce water that is suitable for beneficial re-use in a variety of applications, such as irrigation for farmers and process water for industrial customers. The facility, to be built near the town of Chinchilla about 290 km west of Brisbane, will have the capacity to treat up to 72 million L per day.

Rising global demand for energy and the increasing pressure for cleaner fuels to reduce greenhouse gas emissions are spurring the development of Queensland’s LNG industry, using coal seam gas as the feedstock.

“GE will provide the technical expertise and the process equipment for the project, while we will bring our design experience and construction skills to the job,” said Stephen Wilson, Infrastructure General Manager for Laing O’Rourke. “Our engineering expertise, complementing GE’s expertise, was critical in securing the contract.”

“Advanced treatment processes will enable the Kenya water treatment plant to convert coal seam gas water to a quality suitable for beneficial re-use. This supports both QGC’s objectives and the Australian Government’s water management policy for this growth industry,” said Tim Rourke, CEO GE Energy Australia and New Zealand.

The new water treatment facility will feature its own power-generation plant, which will be powered by coal seam methane. The project builds on an existing relationship between GE and Laing O’Rourke; the two companies worked together on the recently completed Darling Downs power station.

The Kenya water treatment plant is expected to begin commercial operation in the final quarter of 2011.