Working together to establish a world-class mercury recovery facility for the Australian liquefied natural gas industry

Mercury is a heavy metal that is widespread and persistent in the environment and, even at low concentrations, poses a risk of adverse effects to human health and ecosystems. Mercury is commonly found in hydrocarbon reservoirs. Approximately 1.5 tonnes of mercury arrive at the Karratha Gas Plant each year in feed gas from offshore platforms. Because mercury reacts with aluminium, it must be removed from the liquefied natural gas (LNG) process before the main cryogenic heat exchangers, which comprise ~1000 km of aluminium tubing. For over a decade mercury has been safely removed from the Woodside LNG process and sent to Switzerland for recovery of metals and complete recycling of waste constituents. Here we present the outcome of a 3-year collaboration between Woodside and Contract Resources that resulted in the opening of Australia’s first industrial-scale state-of-the-art mercury recovery facility in Karratha in July 2018. The AU$20 million plant is the largest of its type in the Southern Hemisphere and was underpinned by Woodside providing foundation funding through a long-term contract. The facility can handle all mercury-contaminated waste produced by the Australian oil and gas sector now and into the foreseeable future. An unparalleled project delivery taking 3 years to implement from initial discussion to the first batch of waste being processed in Karratha. This paper illustrates the collaboration, innovation and acceleration that occurred to deliver a sustainable outcome for Australian LNG.