New Aussie biofuels project

AusBiotech will oversee a new federal government funded research project aiming to advance the understanding of second generation biofuels.

Second generation biofuels are fuels which are derived from things like waste biomass, the stalks of wheat, corn, wood, and special-energy-or-biomass crops, and avoid some of the controversies surrounding first generation biofuels, namely their potential to threaten food supply.

Receiving initial funding of $3 million, the so-called “Sustainable Energy – Second Generation Biofuels Research Infrastructure EIF (Education Investment Fund) Project” will take place at two pilot-scale facilities.

AusBiotech will help the two project participants - The Queensland University of Technology (QUT) and the South Australian Research and Development Institute (SARDI) – develop the two facilities while taking overall responsibility for the overall management of the project.

QUT’s Mackay Renewable Biocommodities Pilot Plant (MRBPP) Facility will get $1.765 million towards infrastructure designed to support research into processes for converting cellulosic biomass into renewable transport fuels such as ethanol, and marketable biocommodities. This is in addition to $6.8 million of commonwealth and Queensland government money the plant received in 2007 under the National Collaborative Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS) program.

SARDI will receive $1.235 million to add to its NCRIS Photobioreactor Facility additional photobioreactors, raceway ponds and a biodiesel plant allowing larger- scale experiments aimed at producing biodiesel and other useful algae-derived products. Also a beneficiary of the NCRIS Program, SARDI received $5 million towards the facility in 2007.

The facility is situated on the site of Mackay Sugar Limited’s Racecourse sugar mill in Mackay, and will process byproducts such as bagasse, in addition to processing a wide range of biomass feedstock sourced from a number of other Australian partner organisations.

Innovations will be shared between the two facilities with a view to assessing the commercial viability of the various technologies under development.

AusBiotech said that the infrastructure will be available to Australian and international researchers, with Australian public-sector researchers and small companies being offered “substantial discounts”.