Grain crops - stubble management and nitrogen fertiliser

Farmers burn crop stubble in a rice field at a village in Fatehgarh Sahib district in the northern state of Punjab, India, November 4, 2022. REUTERS/Sunil Kataria

The Victorian department of agriculture describes current Australian farm practices for stubble management in wheat cropping. A number of options are discussed. 

For example, at "Crops and horticulture - Managing stubble", 

Crop stubble is the straw and crown of plants left on the soil surface after harvest. Stubble also includes straw and chaff discharged from the harvester (header). It is also known as ‘residue’ or ‘trash’.

Stubble management is one of many complex issues that farmers must contend with. Traditionally, grain growers have burnt stubble to manage weeds, diseases and reduce biomass to make sowing easier. This is no longer the preferred option. Numerous other methods can be used to manage stubble.

Retaining stubble, rather than burning or cultivating, protects the soil from erosion. It also conserves soil moisture and organic matter to sustain crop production. This is particularly beneficial in dry areas or in dry seasons.

A new piece of information discussed by a Canadian soil scientist - that spreading plant material with a high carbon:nitrogen ratio before it has been composted - can reduce soil nitrogen. 

 

Old tree leaves are a staple of fall but it seems wasteful to simply throw them into the garbage. However, applying these [and wheat stubble] to your garden the wrong way can be equally as damaging to your soil nutrients. This article looks at how to use old tree leaves in your garden properly.

If it is true that the same process occurs, reducing soil nitrogen with wheat stubble retained in fields after harvesting, the result will be an increased need for nitrogen fertiliser. 

Nitrogen fertilisers are increasingly expensive, and most are made from natural gas with significant carbon dioxide emissions.  

The soil scientist's advice suggests the need for nitrogen fertiliser may be lowered by harvest wheat stubble and compost it with fungi before spreading the composted stubble on fields. 

A small-scale experiment could evaluate the potential benefit of harvesting wheat stubble instead of leaving it to compost in contact with fields, and then spreading the composted wheat stubble to return nutrients and to increase soil carbon.

Work on this possibility has been completed in India: 

The smog choking New Delhi has been linked to the burning of crop stubble. Every year, most farmers in North India clear their paddy fields by burning an estimated 23 million tonnes of straw. This year, local officials have introduced a revolutionary method in a bid to tackle air pollution. Developed by the Indian Agricultural Research Institute, the bio-decomposer mixture of fungus, jaggery [an unrefined sugar product made in Asia], gram flour and water can help break down the stubble and turn it into compost that will help fertilise the land in just two to three weeks. 

 

Zero-emission fertiliser production

Production of urea fertiliser with existing technology and natural gas as both a feedstock and fuel creates substantial carbon dioxide emissions and is very expensive due to high fossil fuel energy costs. 

Just one modification can reduce the carbon dioxide emissions to zero - and substitute lower-cost renewable energy: 

Natural gas is reformed with steam into hydrogen and carbon dioxide using solar energy. The technology to use renewable energy for this step was developed by the CSIRO and has been marketed commercially.

This approach of changing natural gas with steam to carbon dioxide and hydrogen is described as Autothermal Reforming. For further reading, see "Difference Between Steam Reforming and Autothermal Reforming".

One tonne of urea fertiliser contains 200 kilograms of carbon. To achieve zero-emissions ONLY just enough natural gas to supply the carbon that will be incorporated into the end product is required: there is no extra carbon that would be emitted as carbon dioxide. 

Natural gas containing 200 kilograms of carbon for one tonne of urea has an energy content of 14.8 gigajoules. At $10 per gigajoule, natural gas costing $148 is sufficient to make one tonne of urea.

Prices to remain high.
(From the ABC article "Farmers turning to alternative growing methods in wake of sky-high fertiliser price")

Analyst Andrew Whitelaw said the huge price hikes in fertiliser all boiled down to one factor: high energy costs.

"I just don't see it [fertiliser prices] falling massively. We don't see it getting back into the A$800 or less mark, by the time we have to buy. We're liable to have high prices for Australia right through to our seeding period."

Andrew Whitelaw from Thomas Elders Markets says
fertiliser prices have climbed an extraordinary amount. (ABC News)

One tonne of urea can be made in the following steps:

1. methane + water => hydrogen + carbon dioxide
2. nitrogen + hydrogen => ammonia
3. ammonia + carbon dioxide => ammonium carbamate
4. ammonium carbamate => urea + water
   

All of the carbon dioxide produced in step 1 is consumed in step 3. 

Half of the water consumed in step 1 is recovered in step 4.

Inputs consumed are the methane and half the water used in step 1 and the nitrogen used in step 2.

The only outputs are one quarter of the hydrogen from step 1 and urea from step 4. 

This method produces zero-emission hydrogen with renewable energy, in parallel with the manufacture of urea. 

Hold that thought.

After considering what seems a novel approach to zero-emissions fertiliser manufacture, (or indeed, any 'novel' idea in any industry) it is always worth doing a patent search to check if the 'novel' idea has in fact been developed by someone else.

And so it is in this case. 

A patent search turns up a patent "Zero emission urea process and plant". The abstract begins: 

"Disclosed is a method for the production of urea allowing a substantial reduction , even down to zero , of the continuous emission of ammonia conventionally resulting from such a process. ..."

The above patent addresses only the reaction of carbon dioxide and ammonia. 

The same inventors also have a patent for the production of the hydrogen and carbon dioxide that are required to make urea, "Process for producing ammonia and urea". The abstract begins:

"Disclosed is a process for the production of ammonia comprising a step wherein synthesis gas is formed in two different ways, viz. by catalytic partial oxidation (31) and by steam reforming, and wherein the combined streams of synthesis gas are subjected to a water gas shift reaction (50). Also disclosed is a process of producing urea, wherein ammonia is formed (90) in a process involving said combined streams and wherein carbon dioxide (110) formed in the same process is reacted with said ammonia so as to form urea."

The assignee of the technology, Stamicarbon, says on its website: 

"As the world market leader in design, licensing and development of urea plants for the fertilizer industry, we apply our expertise, knowledge and experience for many solutions; fertilizer production technologies, emission reduction technologies and all technologies for the integration of urea and adjacent processes."

Food drying with renewable energy

Increases in energy costs are a signal for industry to audit its energy use and survey new plant that lowers energy use.

The food processing industry in Victoria has received quotes for natural gas with prices more than doubling in just a few years.

Echuca-based food processor Kagome expects to pay $3.6 million for gas this year, up from $2.4 million last year, despite plans to use less gas. Kagome employs more than 200 people. 

Natural gas is the dominant form of energy use for the food processing plant at KAGOME Australia

Kagome Australia's processing plant receives about 4,000 tonnes of tomatoes each day during the harvest period of 70 days. Natural gas is used to evaporate water from the tomatoes for the production of tomato paste.

Evaporating 1,000 tonnes of water from 4,000 tonnes of tomatoes each day can use an enormous amount of energy. This isn't necessary but it depends on how it is done.

One way to evaporate 1,000 tonnes of water that does use an enormous amount of energy is to simply put batches into large cauldrons with gas burners beneath them. Allow the tomatoes in the cauldrons to simmer until the desired volume of water has evaporated.

This way requires 2,257 gigajoules of thermal energy that converts 1,000 tonnes of water into steam. If this heat energy is supplied by natural gas costing $9 per gigajoule, the daily energy bill would be about $20,000 and the total bill over the tomato harvest period of 70 days woul be about $1.4 million.

There are several other ways to perform the same process using much less energy.

For instance, the energy needed to convert 1 kilogram of water into water vapour is 2,257 kilojoules. The same amount of energy can be recovered when that kilogram of water vapour is condensed back into water.

Mechanical Vapour Recompression (MVR)

The mechanical vapour compressor uses a very small amount of electrical energy to transfer a very large quantity of heat energy from the condensing steam back into the cauldron of tomatoes where it boils off an identical amount of water.
The cost saving of this method is all of the natural gas used in the inefficient method of converting 1,000 tonnes of water into water vapour. This method also produces distilled water while continually recycling the latent heat of evaporation in the water vapour as it condenses back into water.

The condensed water produced may have some value too as a pure, distilled by-product.

Equipment using this method is commercially available. One type is marketed as "forced circulation evaporators". These are for concentrating fruit paste (tomato paste, peach paste, apricot paste and etc.) and some other products with high viscosity. Another type is marketed as "falling film evaporators". These are for concentrating products with low viscosity, for example: fruit juice, milk etc.

The value of the energy savings may make it worthwhile for Kagome Australia to invest in a forced circulation evaporator and eliminate the need for natural gas.

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Orica invests in Australia, Incitec Pivot builds plant in US

The Business Council of Australia likes part of the story of Incitec Pivot, a company that invested in the US. Here's an Orica factory which is one of the many profitable Australian businesses the Business Council of Australia doesn't like to mention.

The BCA must be denigrating Australian investment opportunities to lobby for a corporate tax cut.

The NSW Department of Planning has approved Orica’s proposal to increase the levels of ammonia at its Kooragang Island facility.

US shale gas boom behind new Incitec Pivot factory

April 18, 2013

Incitec Pivot has credited the boom in US shale gas as a factor in its decision to build a new ammonia factory in Louisiana.

Incitec, which makes fertiliser and explosives for the agriculture and mining industries, is a heavy user of gas, and its CEO, James Fazzino, a critic of Australia’s unrestricted approach to gas exports.

"'[The plant] takes our North American business and any future expansions back to US gas economics," said Fazzino in a statement. "This is vital to this project because 80 per cent of the cost of making ammonia is gas."

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Moving forward to 2016...

Details of Incitec Pivot’s US ammonia plant site

Incitec Pivot, through its subsidiary Dyno Nobel, constructed its seventh ammonia plant at Cornerstone’s Fortier Manufacturing Complex in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, US.

The project was implemented in conjunction with the maintenance, upgrades and infrastructure expansion for Cornerstone’s complex. With a production capacity of 800,000t a year, the ammonia plant began its operations in October 2016. The feasibility studies for the project commenced in May 2012 and construction works commenced in May 2013.

The new ammonia plant was constructed on a brownfield site at Fortier Manufacturing Complex in Waggaman, Louisiana, on the west bank of the Mississippi River.

It is located on the site of a former ammonia plant, which was closed down more than a decade ago.

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Gilding the lily in 2017...
The Business Council of Australia copied the entire following article onto its web site from the Australia Financial Review.

Making a 'poster-child' of a business investing in the US and not mentioning a successful competitor, Orica, that invests in Australia looks like it is engaging in bashing Australian business.

Why Incitec Pivot Built a Factory in the US, not Australia

4 September 2017

This opinion article by Incitec Pivot chief executive James Fazzino was published in The Australian Financial Review on 4 September 2017.

With a dramatic sweep of his hand, the then-governor of Louisiana, Bobby Jindal, proudly embraced the numerous manufacturing plants visible from the window of his office.

I will long remember the day that I made an impromptu contact with his office on the way to New Orleans where this obscure Australian company, Incitec Pivot Limited, was considering an $US850 million ($1.08 billion) investment in a world-scale ammonia plant. He cleared his diary to meet with me.

Statistically, there is much to recommend the US as a great place to do business: it is the world's largest economy and second largest manufacturer, with high levels of research, capital investment and productivity. These numbers help explain why the United States has been the largest destination for Australian investment for many years, as confirmed by the recently-released US Studies Centre report on the US-Australia investment relationship. However, numbers alone don't capture what is to me a key attraction for US investment – and an area where Australia could learn significantly: a strong supportive business-friendly culture. As the report details, Australian businesses like us who enter the United States receive a level of welcome that is rarely found in Australia.

More taxpayers, not taxes

Our experience in Louisiana is a testament to this: One of Jindal's initial comments to me about why he was focused on supporting project development particularly stood out: "I'm not about more taxes; I'm about more taxpayers".

This approach extended throughout his administration. It was essential to our project economics that the approvals process was expedited – not the standards lessened – so we could sign a lump-sum construction contract. Louisiana has environmental and regulatory standards the equal, if not higher, than Australia and yet we achieved approval in six months. Meanwhile, the US Studies report details how it took years for a simple retailer like Costco to get the zoning approval to open their first warehouse in Victoria.

The state government agency charged with encouraging business into the state is called Louisiana Economic Development (LED). When we discussed with LED the need to expedite the approval deadlines, the response was that "we won't lower the standards but we can have our people work overtime to ensure that all the documentation achieves the necessary quality … if you pay for the overtime". Of course, we agreed.

With LED, we were never forgotten after we began the process of building our plant. They contacted us regularly asking: "Is there any more that we can do to help further?" That's a business-friendly partner.

This level of commitment to a mutually-beneficial outcome extended to all levels of government from the state to the local.

On time and under budget

The Louisiana project was an outstanding investment for IPL and was recognised as such by an international management consultancy, which benchmarked the project in the top 2 per cent of global construction projects for delivery on time and under budget – and most importantly, with zero lost time injuries.

Sadly for Australia, we looked at a similar development at the same time in New South Wales that did not end up proceeding. Like other case studies of Australian firms detailed in the US Studies Centre report, the case for making such a sizeable investment in the United States was incontrovertible when compared with the same option in Australia.

Let me give you three simple examples for why.

Bureaucracy: The US Studies report details the lengthy regulatory process companies face in Australia and our experience is no different. The approvals process for our Australian project took some three years – about the same time that it took to construct the entire project in Louisiana. Our US plant was producing when we would have just started turning the first sod in Australia.

Workplace productivity: the cost to construct the project in Australia would have been 40 to 50 per cent more than what our Louisiana plant cost us.

Energy: To manufacture ammonia – and many commonly-used plastics and chemicals – gas is used as a raw material, in the same way as iron ore for the manufacture of steel. The competitive price of gas was a critical decision point for the Louisiana project. The US has a gas price of about $US3 per gigajoule, partly as a result of federal government policy. In Australia, previous Australian federal and state governments have allowed unfettered exports from the East Coast and the price of gas is as high as $20 for some industrial users; as well as adding $300 to $400 to some household energy bills. To his credit, Prime Minister Turnbull has regulated to ensure domestic supply is protected in balance with exports.

Confident in the US

While the United States has taken time to recover from the global financial crisis and there are some current headwinds, I'm confident about the outlook for the US economy.

There are predictions by many that the Chinese ascendancy is close. I have no doubt that will eventually happen – sooner or later. However, I have a soft spot for the United States and believe that their business-friendly culture will always provide that competitive edge. After all, it's a great place to do business.

James Fazzino is managing director and chief executive of Incitec Pivot Limited and adjunct professor to La Trobe Business School.

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Other businesses in competition with Incitec Pivot ...

Orica and Yara open the world’s first modular ammonium nitrate plant in Western Australia

25 Aug 2016

The next generation of downstream processing has arrived in the resource rich Pilbara region of Western Australia with the official opening of the Yara Pilbara Nitrates technical ammonium nitrate (TAN) manufacturing plant.

The plant, developed in joint venture by Orica Limited and Yara International ASA, will have capacity to produce 330,000 tonnes of ammonium nitrate (AN) per annum. Ammonium nitrate is the main component of explosives used in the mining, quarrying and construction industries. The plant is currently in the commissioning phase and is expected to be operational by the end of 2016.

The Orica and Yara joint venture facility was opened today by Western Australian Premier Colin Barnett at a ceremony marking the completion of the plant construction phase. The plant is fully integrated with the neighbouring Yara Pilbara Fertilisers ammonia plant, which exports 800,000 tonnes of ammonia per annum to world markets.

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Orica launches fertiliser business

04 Dec 2017

Grain and cotton growers across NSW and Queensland are set to benefit as Orica launches its new fertiliser business with plans for a local manufacturing plant for urea ammonium nitrate (UAN) in Moree, NSW.

Orica Agriculture also expects to begin supply of anhydrous ammonia to east coast growers in April next year, with dedicated line haul and on-farm nurse tank fleets.

Construction of the UAN plant is scheduled to commence in 2018, but growers can access transported UAN immediately.

These investments will bring increased competition, as well as secure and consistent supply of liquid and gas nitrogen fertiliser, to growers on the east coast of Australia.

Orica Agriculture Senior Business Manager, Paul Scutt, says liquid fertiliser is a speciality product used with great success in Western Australia and other markets globally and there is growing interest in the eastern States.

“We believe the market is ready to embrace the benefits of UAN including precision application during specific crop growth stages, reducing passes over paddocks and the reliance on pending rainfall for incorporation of fertiliser.

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Orica snatches more business from Incitec as Roy Hill contract in doubt

12 Jan 2018

Orica appears to have snatched more business from rival explosives manufacturer Incitec Pivot, after Gina Rinehart's Roy Hill indicated it would not renew Incitec's contract to supply explosives when it expires next month.

Roy Hill's decision comes barely one month after BHP confirmed it would not renew Incitec's contract to supply ammonium nitrate prill to BHP's West Australian iron ore division when the contract expires in November 2019.

Loss of the BHP contract will deliver a combined $35 million hit to Incitec's net profits over the 2020 and 2021 financial years, and Incitec said this week the loss of the Roy Hill contract would deliver a further $81 million hit to net profits after tax over the next five years.

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Wastewater gone without a trace

Wastewater treatment service business typically make claims  like -

"Our focus is on fit-for-purpose water re-use to ensure that your project delivers on your expectations."

A new business model could make a quite different claim -

"Our focus is on gone-without-a-trace wastewater conversion to renewable fuel."

Integrated biodiesel and biogas production from microalgae

Microalgae convert water and carbon dioxide into oxygen and chemical compounds of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen.

Some bacteria convert chemical compounds of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen into methane and carbon dioxide.

The above two processes results in the decomposition of water molecules  and carbon dioxide molecules and their reassembly into methane, oxygen and carbon dioxide molecules. For each 2 water molecules and 2 carbon dioxide molecules entering the process,  1 molecule each of methane, oxygen and carbon dioxide exit.

When 1,000 litres of wastewater are reassembled, the methane produced has an energy content of about 22 gigajoules.

While the value of 'fit-for-purpose" processed wastewater is very low, methane has a wholesale value around $10 per gigajoule and a retail price 2 - 6 times the wholesale value.

.@NancySommerfiel A further innovation grows algae in waste water to increase biogas yield with nutrients recycled. https://t.co/EoI9JRQiec pic.twitter.com/kmXLu6wabU

— Askgerbil Now (@Askgerbil) October 31, 2016

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Another process uses renewable electricity that is generated when demand is low to produce gas from crop waste, municipal waste, sawdust, etc in a plasma gasifier...

Energy cost savings in industry

Increases in energy costs are a signal for industry to audit its energy use and survey new plant that lowers energy use.

The abalone industry in South Australia in December 2016 received quotes for electricity supply at almost double its previous contract price:

Yumbah Aquaculture at Port Lincoln, on South Australia’s west coast, received an electricity contract quote for $1.35 million, $650,000 more than its current $700,000 contract.

Also in December 2016 the South Australian State Government announced a program to assist large businesses to audit energy use and invest in energy saving measures -

The 2016-17 Mid Year Budget Review provides $31 million over two years to help large South Australian businesses manage their electricity costs.

The Energy Productivity Program will be available to businesses that use more than 160MWh of electricity each year to incentivise investment in energy saving measures.

The funding will be available for businesses to undertake energy audits of their facilities to determine where efficiencies can be made.

The audits will also make recommendations about technology or infrastructure upgrades that could be carried out to reduce cost and grants will be available to implement the those recommendations. 

One area to examine in an energy audit at Yumbah Aquaculture is the circulation of  water from sea level up to its abalone growing tanks and back into the sea. The energy needed for pumps to raise water by, say, 20 metres is the same as the energy that is available when the same volume of water falls by 20 meters. Adding a micro hydro generator on the outflow from abalone growing ponds could generate almost as much energy used by the pumps to raise the water.

The value of the energy savings may make it worthwhile to invest in a micro hydro generator.

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The food processing industry in Victoria has received quotes for natural gas with prices more than doubling in just a few years.

Echuca-based food processor Kagome expects to pay $3.6 million for gas this year, up from $2.4 million last year, despite plans to use less gas. Kagome employs more than 200 people. 

Natural gas is the dominant form of energy use for the food processing plant at KAGOME Australia

Kagome Australia's processing plant receives about 4,000 tonnes of tomatoes each day during the harvest period of 70 days. Natural gas is used to evaporate water from the tomatoes for the production of tomato paste.

Evaporating 1,000 tonnes of water from 4,000 tonnes of tomatoes each day can use an enormous amount of energy. This isn't necessary but it depends on how it is done.

One way to evaporate 1,000 tonnes of water that does use an enormous amount of energy is to simply put batches into large cauldrons with gas burners beneath them. Allow the tomatoes in the cauldrons to simmer until the desired volume of water has evaporated.

This way requires 2,257 gigajoules of thermal energy that converts 1,000 tonnes of water into steam. If this heat energy is supplied by natural gas costing $9 per gigajoule, the daily energy bill would be about $20,000 and the total bill over the tomato harvest period of 70 days woul be about $1.4 million.

There are several other ways to perform the same process using much less energy.

For instance, the energy needed to convert 1 kilogram of water into water vapour is 2,257 kilojoules. The same amount of energy can be recovered when that kilogram of water vapour is condensed back into water.

Mechanical Vapour Recompression (MVR)

The mechanical vapour compressor uses a very small amount of electrical energy to transfer a very large quantity of heat energy from the condensing steam back into the cauldron of tomatoes where it boils off an identical amount of water.
The cost saving of this method is all of the natural gas used in the inefficient method of converting 1,000 tonnes of water into water vapour. This method also produces distilled water while continually recycling the latent heat of evaporation in the water vapour as it condenses back into water.

The condensed water produced may have some value too as a pure, distilled by-product.

Equipment using this method is commercially available. One type is marketed as "forced circulation evaporators". These are for concentrating fruit paste (tomato paste, peach paste, apricot paste and etc.) and some other products with high viscosity. Another type is marketed as "falling film evaporators". These are for concentrating products with low viscosity, for example: fruit juice, milk etc.

The value of the energy savings may make it worthwhile for Kagome Australia to invest in a forced circulation evaporator and eliminate the need for natural gas.

Another option for Kagome Australia is new technology that makes renewable natural gas from wet biomass - such as tomato plants - collected during  crop harvesting...

Making renewable natural gas from wet biomass, no #CSG -
1/ https://t.co/cbAnvLLgQi
2/ https://t.co/bA1a1XcUY1
3/ https://t.co/Xyy79DHFEo

— Askgerbil Now (@Askgerbil) April 3, 2017

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Dairy industry hit by mysterious crisis

Dairy Australia collects production and sales information for the industry.

Dairy Australia's information shows no surprising change in production or in demand.

Among the noteworthy changes are:

• A 21.4 % annual increase in the volume of milk exports.  There was a corresponding increase of 19.7 % in the value of these exports from last year (July 2014 -  June 2015) to this year (July 2015 - June 2016).  
• A 63.4 % annual increase in the value of whole milk powder exports.  This increased value was obtained with just a 2.4 % increase in the volume of these exports from last year (July 2014 -  June 2015) to this year (July 2015 - June 2016). 

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The inside story of how the dairy industry has bled milk farmers dry, next on #4Corners #dairycrisis pic.twitter.com/oWd0ZbPTvA

— Sally Neighbour (@neighbour_s) August 15, 2016

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"we can't afford to pay for our bills. My husband, since 2014, has tried to commit suicide a number of times" https://t.co/QQaWyEzxmv

— Leigh Radford (@CaptainRural) 14 August 2016

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Milk production (millions of litres)

Production fell slightly in 2015/16. A collapse in price can't be explained by an increasing supply.

Dairy Export Report - June 2016

Exports increased in volume and in value...

Zero emission coal is here - now

Latrobe Fertilisers Limited

Latrobe Fertilisers Limited was incorporated in September 2012 to deploy proven coal gasification technologies to produce urea.

The coal gasification process delivers a separate stream of CO₂ which can be captured and stored.

Urea Plant

The coal will be gasified to produce a synthesis gas - a mixture of CO and H₂. The production of urea (and DAP fertiliser) first requires the production of ammonia (NH₃) and the nitrogen to do this comes from the Air Separation Unit at the front end of the flow sheet with the hydrogen coming from the shift reaction ...

(CO + H₂O → H₂ + CO₂)

Environment

The project will be subject to the normal state and federal environmental approval process. The plant will be located on an approved industrial site adjacent to a power station and mine which has several of the environmental approvals already in place.

Sustainability

Latrobe Fertilisers is committed to build the first near to zero emissions urea plant in Australia.

The project is engineered to capture its excess CO₂ not used in the urea production (see project flow sheet) and ultimately direct this to a common user geosequestration facility.  The establishment of such a facility is supported by the Victorian Government who are currently one of the sponsors of  a trial CO₂ injection project in Victoria’s Otway Basin.

Further reading -

The "Coal Can Do That" article "Coal-to-Gas is Off-the-Shelf Energy Solution" from February 2009 by Dr. Frank Clemente.

The coal industry's "War on Coal" campaign is all spin

Improve water quality of inland waterways and generate income

Water quality and sources of pollution - Eutrophication and algal blooms

(Source: Australian Government - Department of the Environment)
Eutrophication occurs when the major plant nutrients - nitrogen and phosphorus - accumulate in water (or sediments). Given the right conditions, elevated concentrations of nutrients stimulate the growth of aquatic flora to nuisance levels. Examples include microscopic algae in the water column which may result in algal blooms...

Algal blooms are a natural occurrence, however, due to human activities (such as land clearing, destruction of riparian vegetation, water extraction, decreased flow and flow variability associated with weirs and dams, discharge of sewage and intensive agriculture), higher quantities of nitrogen and phosphorus have been reaching inland waters. Periods of low or no flow in many rivers have also increased due to high water extraction and river regulation. The combination of high nutrient levels and long periods of low or no flow provide ideal conditions for algal blooms to develop.

Blue-green algal blooms are of most concern in inland waters as certain species produce toxins that may cause skin irritations, gastrointestinal disorders, influenza-like symptoms and, in extreme cases, permanent organ damage and death (ANZECC/AWRC 1992). Many of the toxins produced by blue-green algae can affect people, livestock, birds and fish. ...

For human uses, blue-green algal blooms in drinking water resources is the most serious issue. Traditional water treatment methods are unable to remove the algal toxins from algae-contaminated water, while other alternative water treatment methods are expensive. Blue-green algal blooms may affect the recreational use of a waterway by decreasing its aesthetic amenity and posing a health risk to individuals who have direct contact with the algae.

"A $40 a tonne increase in the US in December has led Australian farmers paying up to $200 a tonne more for the fertiliser diammonium phosphate (DAP)."

Point sources of nitrogen and phosphorus include sewage treatment plants, intensive agriculture (such as cattle feedlots and piggeries) and industry. Although in most river systems, point sources only contribute to 5% to 35% of the total amount of nutrients entering the waterway (Environment Australia 1996; NPI 2000), their impact can be proportionally greater.

Point-source discharges are usually continuous and often contain high levels of nitrate and phosphate, forms of nitrogen and phosphorus that can be readily used by algae.

In dry weather, diffuse source nutrient pollution is generally low and point sources are the largest source of nutrients. The greater stability of the water column in dry weather is generally more favourable to the development of algal blooms (SKM 2001) and there is also less flow in river systems to dilute point-source discharges.

Although there is information on the quantity of nutrients discharged from sewage treatment plants (NPI 2000), there is no comprehensive information on other point sources. ... The contribution to nutrient loads from intensive livestock enterprises is potentially considerable as these facilities are widespread, often poorly regulated and generate wastes that are high in nutrients (e.g. manure).

Figures 13 and 14 show the quantities of phosphorus and nitrogen discharged to inland waters by sewage treatment plants each year. As New South Wales has the highest inland population, its sewage treatment plants also discharge the highest quantity of nutrients. The four river systems that receive the highest loads of nitrogen (greater than 100 tonnes per year) and phosphorus (greater than 30 tonnes per year) from sewage treatment plants are the Murrumbidgee, Hawkesbury-Nepean, Namoi and Hunter.

Figure 13: Tonnes of phosphorus discharged by inland sewage treatment plants each year.

Source: Data for New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland and Tasmania were obtained from licensing databases supplied by state regulatory agencies. Data for Northern Territory, Western Australia, Australian Capital Territory and South Australia were obtained from the National Pollutant Inventory 2000.

Figure 14: Tonnes of nitrogen discharged by inland sewage treatment plants each year.

Source: Data for New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland and Tasmania were obtained from licensing databases supplied by state regulatory agencies. Data for Northern Territory, Western Australia, Australian Capital Territory and South Australia were obtained from the National Pollutant Inventory 2000.

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Struvite (magnesium ammonium phosphate) Recovery

"Ostara’s Pearl® technology created at the University of British Columbia recovers ammonia and phosphate from nutrient rich fluids."

Ostara’s proprietary wastewater treatment technology, called the Pearl® Nutrient Recovery Process, recovers phosphorus and other nutrients from sludge liquids preventing the buildup of struvite scale in plant infrastructure and converting the recovered nutrients into a premium commercial fertilizer (Crystal Green®)

The pellets are then harvested from the reactor and formulated to become Crystal Green®, a high-quality environmentally friendly, slow-release, commercial fertilizer that provides revenue for the system’s operator.

Ostara’s Pearl® technology is based on a proprietary fluidized bed reactor that recovers ammonia and phosphate from nutrient rich fluids. The technology, created at the University of British Columbia, uses a proprietary fluidized bed reactor design which removes approximately 85% of the influent phosphorus, but also results in the formation of a fertilizer in granular form consistent with that used in the fertilizer industry.
(Read more ...)

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Incitec Pivot Phosphorus Fertilisers

Ammonia Molecule

DAP (Diammonium Phosphate) is manufactured by reacting ammonia with phosphoric acid. Because it has a high nitrogen and phosphorus content, DAP allows savings to be made in storage, freight and application. It is a very economical nitrogen and phosphorus fertiliser and is widely used throughout the world. In Australia, DAP is used in cropping and on grass pastures, both on its own and in blends, e.g. for sugarcane and horticulture.

(Read more ...)

Innovations to solve political disputes

Politics is often about compromise and inevitable conflict between competing interests.
Sometimes an innovation or two comes along that gets rid of the issues that created the conflict.

There are a couple of innovations that benefit multiple interest groups who are more often than not in conflict with each other: bluegas™ and MicGAS™

GreatPoint Energy produces clean, low cost natural gas from coal, petroleum coke, and biomass utilizing its bluegas™ catalytic hydromethanation process.

GreatPoint Energy's coal gasification technology appeals to China because it allows them to keep using cheap domestic coal, but in a much cleaner manner.

In 2012, GreatPoint announced a $1.25 billion deal to build the first of 34 coal gasification plants in a remote, coal-rich part of China.

The total project will cost an estimated $20 - 25 billion and will supply one trillion cubic feet of natural gas a year.

This represents a massive leap in the scale of domestic production for China, which last year produced only 107 billion cubic feet of natural gas.

The deal includes an equity investment of $420 million, the largest ever by a Chinese corporation into a venture-capital-funded U.S. company.

Hydromethanation

For over 20 years, scientists from Humaxx, and parent research and development company, Arctech, have perfected and pioneered the biotechnology for the conversion of coal into natural gas and the manufacturing of humic substances into environmentally safe solutions.

MicGAS is a hydrogen-rich clean methane gas (CH4) produced from coal by specially engineered microbes.

Gas composition ranges from 60-80% methane and remaining carbon dioxide (CO2).

Higher rank coals produce more methane enriched gas than lower rank coals. MicGAS can be utilized for heating, power generation, upgraded by removing carbon dioxide to natural gas generally 90%+ methane.

Commercial and environmental significance of MicGAS.

Through its development of the Arctech Process, we have continued to substantially improved efficiencies and production techniques associated with MicGAS production from coal.

We know of no other coal gasification technology, in either ex situ or in situ circumstances, that presently claims to successfully gasify coal at near ambient temperatures and without the need for significant costs associated with thermification.

This uniqueness presents major opportunities for both reduced carbon footprints and cost efficiencies for “coal gasification” processes.

Bioconversion of coal is accomplished by adapting micro-organisms derived from the gut of termites to coal in the presence of other appropriate nutrients.

Methane production by coal biotechnology

Some existing issues and interest group conflicts

Australian oil and natural gas companies have invested $70 billion in LNG export terminals in Queensland.

• Australian farmers are concerned that the coal seam gas industry will jeopardise their businesses by polluting water on which they rely. 
• Australian industry is concerned that the export of huge quantities of natural gas with no proportion reserved for domestic markets will damage their commercial viability. 

Preventing the growth of the coal seam gas industry - desired by Australian farmers - seems to undermine the ability of the oil and natural gas companies to gain a return from the billions of dollars invested in LNG export facilities.

This seems an insurmountable obstacle to any solution to the concerns expressed by Australian farmers.

Australian coal mining companies have gained approval to expand export infrastructure including the coal terminal at Abbot Point in Queensland.

• Australian environment protection groups are concerned at the plans to dump dredge spoil during building the coal terminal in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park. 
• Australian environment protection groups are also concerned at the prospect of substantially increasing coal exports that seem destined to increase global carbon dioxide emissions when climate science advises that this will aggravate man-made climate change. 

The Queensland State Government is depending on growing coal royalties to support its budget.

An opportunity to use LNG export terminals and earn coal royalties
- without coal seam gas and
- without dumping waste in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park

Coal gasification will contribute more to China’s gas supply than shale gas: IEA http://t.co/gZoJj5zlBG
— Askgerbil Now (@Askgerbil) April 18, 2014

An innovation developed by a U.S. company converts coal into synthetic natural gas, hydrogen and carbon dioxide.  This innovation could be used to provide natural gas for export from coal mined in Queensland and NSW.

• The LNG export terminals can export this natural gas. 
• The Queensland and NSW State Governments  earn coal royalties from the coal converted to natural gas for export. No coal seam gas investment is needed. 
• No investment in the expansion of coal export infrastructure is needed and so there is no dredge spoil to dump in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park.

There are some additional benefits...

•  The Queensland and NSW coal industry faces difficult market conditions due to falling world prices for coal. Mine closures and job losses slow the Australian economy and cut the return on investments made in mining plant and equipment that is now idle. 
• Australian farming is faced with rapidly rising fertiliser prices. Natural gas to be exported through the $70 billion LNG export terminals is expected to cause the price of natural gas to double or triple. Fertiliser manufacturers now use natural gas as a source of hydrogen. This is a major component in ammonia fertilisers used widely in agriculture. The innovation for converting coal into synthetic natural gas can also produce large quantities of hydrogen and this should  help keep the price of fertiliser down. 
• Environmental groups and health groups have a number of concerns over the palm oil industry. These include:

• the destruction of rainforest - with adverse impacts on carbon dioxide emissions and on endangered species' habitats, and 
• The growing use of palm oil in foodstuffs may be contributing to adverse health outcomes throughout Australia's population. 

• The innovations for converting coal into synthetic natural gas - either bluegas or MicGAS - also produces carbon dioxide. 

• This can be used in algae farming to produce edible oils to substitute for palm oil. 
• This provides an opportunity for growth of Australian agriculture - in addition to overcoming the concerns over palm oil.

An Australian company has developed an innovative method for algae farming that may be able to be exploited to achieve these positive outcomes.

.@ShaneRattenbury @freethebears @national_zoo @hmxt0 Algae for edible oil: healthier and without #palmoil's impact. https://t.co/2sBdz9oHOp
— Askgerbil Now (@Askgerbil) June 4, 2014

The cost of drilling large numbers of coal seam gas wells is substantial. Either of the newer methods for obtaining substitute natural gas from coal may well be a better investment.

Natural Gas In New York Marcellus Shale Costs More To Get It Out Than The Gas Is Worth http://t.co/qzz6utC462 #cleantech
— CleanTechnica (@cleantechnica) April 25, 2014

Arrow Energy - Surat Basin Gas project.

Production wells will be installed progressively throughout the project life starting in 2014 and ending in 2035. It is expected that up to 18 drilling rigs will be used to install the 7,500 wells.

...

Following the completion of drilling, surface equipment such as the wellhead, dewatering pump, wellhead gas/water separator, control valve, metering and telemetry/communications equipment will be installed. Gas-driven electric generators will be required at wellheads to power the dewatering pumps and ancillary equipment until the gas free-flows, after which production wells will be powered by solar panels where possible.

Low-pressure gathering lines will be used to deliver gas directly from production wells to production facilities. Medium-pressure gathering lines deliver gas from field compression facilities to both central gas processing and integrated processing facilities.

Related posts - 

Orangutans, rainforests, human health, coal seam gas and algae 

Aussie farmers and coal miners take on gas

Farming, mining and natural gas prices

The Great Barrier Reef vs the Queensland State Budget

Coal and Natural Gas power plants

Aussie farmers and coal miners take on gas

If CSG is made uneconomic by a lower-cost gas supplier it won't happen

Farmers and coal miners have the opportunity to profit in three ways from the doubling of natural gas prices expected to arrive by 2015 (SANTOS is confident Australia's east coast gas prices will rise to two or three times current prices). Failing to take this opportunity means accepting a double blow to profits with this doubling of energy costs and a steep rises in fertiliser prices.

A preview of the impact of natural gas prices was reported by ABC Rural - after extreme cold weather in the U.S. pushed natural gas prices to a five-year high:

"A $40 a tonne increase in the US in December has led Australian farmers paying up to $200 a tonne more for DAP. [diammonium phosphate (DAP). Natural gas is a major feedstock in ammonia production.]" (Read more ...)

Methane produced from crop residues, coal and coal waste - at a price below coal seam gas - means:

• More revenue for farmers and more jobs for coal miners.
• Cheaper fertiliser at stable prices for farmers by selling methane to fertiliser manufacturers.
• No coal seam gas wells. 

Pentair Haffmans’ biogas upgrading technology according to the company outperforms conventional techniques by providing two additional advantages. Biogas primarily consists of a mixture of methane and CO2. The technique used makes it possible to recover 100 % of the methane, thus eliminating the environmentally harmful ‘methane slip’. In addition, the CO2 by-product is recovered for use in a variety of applications, including greenhouse growing.

Use these three steps:

• Convert crop residues and coal into a methane and carbon dioxide mixture.
• Separate the methane and sell it as synthetic natural gas to fertiliser manufacturers and LNG exporters.
• Sell the remaining carbon dioxide to algae farms to produce edible oil, bio-diesel and livestock feed. Researchers feeding marine algae to lambs have increased the level of healthy omega-3 fatty acids in their meat by almost three times. (Read more ...)

Source: Science creates possibilities - farming energy and food

It should be a crime to have CSG on this land

FARMERS have declared they are ready for war as the CSG industry eyes their land for mining.

A meeting of 500 landowners and protesters yesterday issued a message of defiance to Arrow Energy, which is seeking approval to sink gas wells at Cecil Plains on the Darling Downs.

A large part of Arrow's gas lies under the best cereal and cotton farming land in Queensland.

Source: Arrow takes aim at Darling Downs farmers for coal seam gas mining

The coal sector has its troubles - thin margins, job losses

Falling commodity prices and rising operating costs is wreaking havoc on Australia’s coal sector with one industry association saying over 9000 jobs have gone in the last 15 months.

The lower-priced thermal coal is selling at about $US87 a tonne and according to a Wood Mackenzie report more than 40 of the 71 thermal mines surveyed had cash operating costs above this level. Painting an even bleaker picture, some traders have reported recent thermal coal sales as low as $US72 a tonne.

Source: Thin margins, job losses: Coal sector troubles

Concerns mounting over soaring gas prices and a looming domestic supply shortage.

The Government Minister for Resources Mr Gray's position was echoed by his opposition counterpart Ian Macfarlane, who said any move to mandatory domestic gas reservation would be a "bad signal to investment in Australia" and would not resolve the issue.

Natural gas was essential to farming, making up 15 to 40 per cent of the cost base of common products like fertiliser.

Source: Canberra to probe domestic gas market

Fertiliser manufacturer Incitec Pivot that uses huge amounts of gas is livid

Coal seam gas (CSG) would go for export as liquefied natural gas (LNG), shipped out of Gladstone to Asian markets. LNG plants producing millions of tonnes per annum are hungry beasts – nowhere else in the world had they been hooked up to thousands of CSG wells. 20,000-30,000 wells are to be drilled across the Darling Downs over the next two decades.

Domestic gas prices on the east coast are expected to double by around 2015, as they reach ‘export parity’. In simple terms, for the first time Australian gas users – commercial and residential – in the eastern states are competing for gas with energy-hungry Asian nations like Japan, Korea and China.

Source: Campbell Newman and his flying pig economics

Australian media bias on carbon tax

What the Australian Media DID Report

US inaction on carbon tax shows Australia isolated: Tony Abbott 

From: AAP January 22, 2013 

FEDERAL Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has pointed to the Obama administration's inaction on carbon pricing after the US president said more must be done to address climate change.
...
Asked if the president's speech meant Australia should do more to tackle climate change, Mr Abbott said the US Democratic administration had backed away from an emissions trading scheme.

"The interesting thing is that President Obama's administration has three times, in the last few months, explicitly ruled out a carbon tax or an emissions trading scheme," he said.

"Now, all of us are concerned about climate change. All of us want to do the right thing by our planet. We all want to give the planet the benefit of the doubt.

"But we've got to have smart policies, not dumb policies, to do that."

(Read more ...)

Doorstop Interview, Forestville 

Sunday, April 7, 2013 

...
QUESTION:

The Prime Minister has recently been praising other countries in Asia with regards to climate change. Do you think that you should leave the carbon tax alone?

TONY ABBOTT:

The carbon tax is damaging our economy. It is not doing any good for the environment.
No other country is imposing a carbon tax on its economy at that scale.
So one of the best things I can do for the families of Australia, one of the best things I can do for the job security of workers, one of the best things I can do to boost our economy and make things like the NDIS more affordable is scrap the carbon tax.

QUESTION:

When is the Coalition going to release its broadband policy?

...

(Read more ...)

This nation's a bit player in game theory of climate change policy 

Noel Pearson, The Australian, April 20, 2013 

...
Having committed Australian industry to a tax of $23 a tonne, rising to $24.15 on July 1, our country will pay while the rest of the world will not, and there is still no sign other countries will join us.

(Read more ...)

What the Australian Media DIDN'T Report

UK Government action on carbon tax shows Australia is not isolated 

March 20, 2013 

The UK Government is acting to give private investors the confidence to invest in the UK’s energy sector.

From April 2013 the carbon price floor announced at Budget 2011 will come into effect, providing a clear and credible long-term signal to support investment in low carbon electricity generation.

[The carbon price floor starts at £16 ($AUD26.79) per tonne in April 2013 and has a target price for carbon of £30 ($AUD50.24) per tonne of carbon dioxide in 2020.]

(Read more ...)

University of Western Australia - Coalition's Direct Action plan may be impractical

January 23, 2013 

NEW UWA research looking at the economic impacts of implementing soil organic carbon (SOC) sequestration methods into farming practices, is showing that these impacts may prove impractical for farmers.
...
The authors found that while altering certain practices can be used to increase carbon sequestration it is costly and farmers would require high levels of compensation to make it a viable option.

By modeling the cost of these practices researchers estimate the profit lost for each additional tonne of CO2 stored on the model farm was $80.00 which is far more than the initial buying price of $23.00 per tonne under carbon tax legislation.

[It is 10 times more than the $8.00 per tonne estimate relied upon by Tony Abbott for costing the Coalition's Direct Action plan.]

(Read more ...)

Coal seam gas up in smoke

BP calls for more informed debate on CSG

ABCNEWS PM with Mark Colvin. Sue Lannin reporting
Updated Mon Mar 4, 2013 7:37pm AEDT

The chief economist of international oil giant, BP, says there needs to more discussion about the implications of coal seam gas drilling and extraction. Christof Ruhl says the natural gas energy source is too plentiful and too precious not to use it.

Coal seam gas treated as a costly waste product

Gas Flaring - Disposing of natural gas keeps prices high

Twitter - Coal Seam Gas

Related link -
Investing on the Road to Global Financial Crisis II