CCUS hub opportunities in Western Australia

Western Australia provides ideal conditions for establishing carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) hubs due to the co-location of abundant, highly suitable geological storage resources in saline aquifers and depleted fields with clusters of industrial emissions sources. These industrial emitters include sources with high CO 2 concentrations from gas processing, ammonia and fertilizer production that form a relatively low-cost opportunity for the initial stages of a CCUS hub. The Pilbara CCUS hub concept modelled in this study covers three stages to build economy of scale up to 40 Mtpa CO 2 : (1) 4.3 Mtpa CO 2 from higher CO 2 concentration emissions sources including reservoir CO 2 separated from natural gas processing and high-CO 2 streams from ammonia/fertiliser production; (2) 18.6 Mtpa CO 2 from lower CO 2 concentration emissions sources that require post combustion CO 2 capture and new industries including low-emissions hydrogen; (3) 14.2 Mtpa CO 2 from domestic and Asia-Pacific countries. The introduction of low-emissions hydrogen production in the second stage demonstrates how low-emissions hydrogen and its derivative can lay the foundation for future green hydrogen/ammonia production and low-carbon steel. Excess storage capacity provides a new business opportunity to import CO 2 from other parts of Australia and from the broader Asia Pacific region. However, the large costs for post-combustion capture and shipping infrastructure will require a much higher carbon price, tax incentives or government subsidies than currently available, before the incorporation of these emissions sources would become economically feasible.