SYDNE Y WAT ER | Sponsored editorial
Jemena and Sydney Water are partnering to develop Australia’s first biomethane-to-gas-network project. The demonstration project, co-funded by the Australian Renewable Energy Agency, is intended to show how carbonneutral biomethane can help to supplement domestic gas supplies and support the decarbonisation process for the gas network. Executing the project on behalf of Jemena, Zinfra was required to create a partnership of trust and transparency between the utilities.
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he Malabar Biomethane Injection Project (MBIP) involves constructing a biogas upgrader facility to process raw biogas from the anaerobic digestion plant at Sydney Water’s Malabar Wastewater Treatment Plant (WTP), with the biomethane to be blended into Jemena’s New South Wales gas distribution network. Zinfra is engaged for project management, engineering, procurement, and construction. Currently, procurement is almost complete and equipment is in the last stages of fabrication and assembly, with early construction works underway on site as well. Zinfra’s client is Jemena, but the project is a collaboration between Jemena and Sydney Water – Jemena is the owner of the assets, Sydney Water the owner of the land and supplier of the raw biogas, and Zinfra the developer. Working with Jemena and Sydney Water, Zinfra needed to be a trusted partner to both utilities, which meant building trust and finding innovative ways to incorporate new technology.
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UTILITY • FEBRUARY 2023
THE ROLE OF BIOMETHANE IN CIRCULAR ECONOMIES The MBIP is an Australian-first and the project is expected to initially avoid 5,000 tonnes of carbon emissions annually, with the potential to scale up to 11,000 tonnes. The core idea behind the MBIP is creating a circular economy – through turning waste into energy, and re-using products rather than disposing of them. Sewage from southern Sydney is treated at Sydney Water’s Malabar WTP. The treatment process produces biogas as a by-product, which is made up of approximately 60 per cent methane and 40 per cent carbon dioxide. The methane is then processed through Jemena’s upgrader facility on site before being blended into the existing natural gas network as renewable gas. Zinfra Operations Manager, Gas Projects, Justin Anderson, said Sydney Water currently use some of the biogas to generate electricity and heat for use on their site, and the excess, that is currently burnt in their flare, is what the biomethane project will utilise. WWW.UTILITYMAGAZINE.COM.AU