MEGTEC Systems to build world's largest coal mine ventilation methane emissions abatement system in China

CBM Note – June 10, 2010
MEGTEC Systems to build world's largest coal mine ventilation methane emissions abatement system in China

MEGTEC Systems, a U.S.–based firm, announced that its China subsidiary has been contracted to build the largest plant in the world to capture and eliminate ventilation air methane (VAM) from the Datong coal mine in China's Chongqing municipality.

Plans call for the Datong mine VAM system to be operational later this year. It will utilize MEGTEC's VOCSIDIZER® technology to eliminate about 97 percent of the methane within the captured exhaust stream before it enters the atmosphere. The system is expected to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by up to 200,000 tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) equivalent per year. In addition, energy released in the process will be used to heat water for nearby buildings.

The agreement was formally signed between MEGTEC and a three-way joint venture partnership comprised of AES Climate Solutions Asia (a wholly owned subsidiary of AES Corporation), Shenzhen Dongjiang Environmental Renewable Power Company Ltd., and Songzao Coal and Chongqing Electricity Company Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of Chongqing Energy Investment Group.

The VOCSIDIZER has been used at a coal mine at the ZhengZhou Mining Group in China's Henan Province since that project's commissioning in 2008. That system, a single-unit installation, processes around 60,000 normal cubic meters per hour of ventilation air, and also generates hot water for local use.

Four VOCSIDIZER units have been operating at BHP Billiton's West Cliff Colliery in Australia for three years. That project converts the coal mine's VAM into high-grade, superheated steam that operates a 6 Megawatt steam turbine, generating electricity for the local power grid.