‘First’ biofuels pilot plant in Australia officially opened

Australia’s ‘first’ biofuels pilot plant has been officially opened in Gladstone, Queensland. The opening ceremony was presided over by Premier of Queensland and Minister for the Arts, the Honourable Annastacia Palaszczuk MP.

The $18 million Northern Oil Advanced Biofuels Pilot Plant is a joint venture between Southern Oil and J.J. Richards & Sons, on the site of their Northern Oil Refinery. It brings together a range of cutting-edge technologies to produce biocrude and renewable fuels from waste.

Southern Oil managing director Tim Rose said: “Over the next three years, this pilot plant aims to produce one million litres of fuel for use in field trials by the US navy as part of its Great Green Fleet initiative, by the Australian Defence Force for the navy, by Australian heavy road transport operators, and for the Australian agricultural and aviation sectors,”

“But we don’t intend to stop there; this is the next step towards a $150 million, commercial-scale biofuels plant that will produce in excess of 200 million litres of advanced biofuel annually - a project that has the potential to create hundreds of jobs and new industries across regional Australia.” Rose continued.

Over the coming months the pilot plant will trial and process a range of waste products to convert into biofuels.

“The rubber is literally hitting the road in Gladstone with used mining and passenger tyres some of the first waste streams to be trialled,” Rose said.

Plastics, wood waste, Prickly Acacia, sugar cane trash and bagasse, urban and a variety of agricultural green waste including macadamia shells are just some of the other waste streams set to be trialled by the new facility.

Richard Taylor, J.J. Richards general manager - Business Development, outlined why the largest privately owned waste company in Australia had invested millions of dollars in the biofuels pilot plant.

"J.J. Richards has built a business around managing the collection and disposal of a variety of wastes such as green and organic waste, plastics, used tyres and even bio-solids,” Mr Taylor said.

“We are excited to be a partner in transforming those waste streams into the next generation of resource recovery - the ability to build a commercial scale biofuels refinery in Australia will also help better guarantee domestic fuel security.”

Rose explained that waste feedstocks could play a crucial role in Australia’s fuel future.

“Our renewable diesel will be the next generation of biodiesel - it will be a direct diesel replacement that can be used independently or in a mix with crude diesel,” Mr Rose said.

“The big advantage is that renewable diesel comes from biological sources and general wastes, while crude diesel comes from fossil crude oil.”

Rose stressed that the Queensland state government’s vision for the biofuels industry, and the financial incentives it offered were key to the decision to found the plant in the state.

“Here, we will convert one person’s trash into another person’s future,” he said.