BOC Ltd., an industrial gases subsidiary of Germany’s Linde Group, has commissioned a plant that will capture carbon dioxide emissions from operations at New Zealand Refining Co. Ltd.’s (NZRC) 107,000-b/d Marsden Point refinery at Northland on the North Island’s east coast.
The $40-million (NZ) plant began operations in early February, BOC said.
Located at the Marsden Point manufacturing site, the plant will trap as much as 50,000 tonnes/year of the refinery’s CO2 byproduct and purify it for use across a range of New Zealand’s industries, including food and beverage, wine, dairy, horticulture, and pulp and paper.
In addition to improving the refinery’s environmental performance, the CO2 capture and purification plant will create a revenue stream for NZRC independent of refining margins and exchange rates, said Sjoerd Post, NZRC’s chief executive.
Part of a more than 15-year operating agreement between BOC and NZRC, the CO2 plant previously was scheduled for startup by yearend 2015 (OGJ Online, June 26, 2014).
