Vast and Mabanaft award pre-FEED contract for green methanol project

Vast Renewables Limited (Vast) has announced a significant milestone in the development of its SM1 green methanol plant in Port Augusta. Vast and its consortium partner, Mabanaft, have awarded contracts to commence pre-front-end engineering and design (FEED) work. This follows the appointment of Dr Amy Philbrook, Arup’s Australasia Clean Fuels Technical Lead, as Project Manager.

Part of the Port Augusta Green Energy Hub in South Australia, SM1 will have the capacity to produce 7500 tonnes of green methanol each year. SM1 will be supplied with baseload clean and renewable heat from Vast’s 30 MW/240 MWh concentrated solar thermal power (CSP) plant.

One of the contract partners, international engineering company Fichtner, has extensive experience designing and engineering renewable energy projects globally, including energy storage and hydrogen, and has played a key role in the development of SM1. SM1 is a first-of-its-kind project that Vast says can demonstrate this potential and catalyse Australia’s green fuels industry and a global pipeline of projects.

Pre-FEED is a critical milestone in the project’s development. A key part of Fichtner’s work will involve integrating the proven technologies to produce green methanol:

• Leilac calcination plant from fellow Australian technology company Calix to capture unavoidable process carbon dioxide produced in the making of cement and lime.
• Methanol plant, with German technology company bse Methanol acting as process provider and OEM.
• bse Methanol has developed the FlexMethanol modules that enable the economic conversion of energy and carbon dioxide from flue gas into a chemical energy store by means of modular and decentralised production units.
• Electrolysis plant to produce hydrogen.
   

Vast is planning to develop SM1 with consortium partner Mabanaft after signing a joint development agreement in June 2024. The project has secured funding agreements for up to AU$19.48 million from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) and up to €12.4 million from Projektträger Jülich (PtJ) on behalf of the German Government.

“Commencing pre-FEED is an important milestone to progress SM1, a green methanol project that has the potential to make a real difference to the hard-to-abate transport sector. We’re looking forward to building on Fichtner and bse Methanol’s strong platform of work to date to deliver SM1, and it’s fantastic to have Dr Philbrook onboard as a leading clean fuels expert to help deliver this unique project,” said Craig Wood, CEO of Vast.

Image credit: Vast Renewables Limited.