Australian Researchers Lead Way in Developing Sustainable Biofuel Technology

by Cecilia Connell (ABC News) An Australian-first biofuel demonstration facility in the New South Wales Hunter Valley has been touted as a game-changer in the food versus fuel debate, that has overshadowed the production of ethanol for some time.

The Federal Government, through the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) has announced $11.9 million in funding for Australian biofuel company Ethanol Technologies Limited (Ethtec) to assist in the development of its groundbreaking process that produces ethanol from a range of waste plant matter, left over from crop harvesting and forestry.

As part of a $48 million dollar project, Ethtec plans to construct a $30 million purpose-built pilot facility in the Hunter Valley town of Muswellbrook, expected to produce 270,000 litres of biofuel per annum with the aim of making the technology available to the commercial market in five years' time.

Ethtec senior research biotechnologist, Dr Geoff Doherty said as well as overcoming barriers to the widespread use of ethanol as fuel, other products could also be created.

"We can liberate the sugars from any sort of plant biomass and once we get those sugars into solution, we can then either ferment them to ethanol or we can also take them to other higher value green chemicals such as renewable plastic precursors, industrial lubricants and even potentially pharmaceuticals," he said.

"Our technology will still allow farmers to sell their crops into the existing food market and then also sell that fibre into an industry that we create, which is biofuels and green chemicals. READ MORE

Excerpts from Biofuels Digest: We’ve been following the Queensland-based Ethtec – or Ethanol Technologies Limited – for more than a decade. It’s an international technology story that dates back at least to 2007. the hydrolysis and fermentation technology was developed in collaboration with the University of Southern Mississippi and the University of New South Wales, and Apace Research Limited also contributed IP. Willmott Forests made an early-stage investment into the company to catalyze the phase 1 pilot, before Willmott itself collapsed in 2010 as Australia’s timber industry tanked.

The most intriguing aspect of the technology has been the use of what is called ‘induced phase separation’ for ethanol recovery from the broth that fermentation produces. Why special? The technology aims to eliminate the use of conventional distillation — and that knocks down the capex but also significantly reduces the operating costs and improves the sustainability and energy intensity of a project.

Ethtec’s Andrew Reeves believes the potential in Australia alone for facilities is compelling. “There is the potential for at least 30–50 ethanol plants to be established on the east coast of Australia as the raw material is there. There are approximately 30 sugar refineries and plants using wood in the region,” he noted in 2015, here.

The team eventually selected the NSW Sugar Milling Co-operative Harwood Mill and Refinery near Maclean in the far north of New South Wales, less than 200 kilometers south of Brisbane.

Phase one was complete in 2009. “To conserve costs, the initial work concentrated on breaking down woodchip and sugar cane bagasse and converting the cellulose and hemi-cellulose into sugars in a batch process,” said company CEO Robert Carey at the time. “Once we were confident that the process would work in a batch mode, the plant was upgraded so that Phase 1 could run in a continuous mode. Phase 1 has achieved the remarkable milestone of being able to convert woodchip to sugars in less than two minutes and was signed off by the Ethtec Board in October 2009.”

Phase two of its pilot development involved separation of the acid, sugar and lignin streams and recycling of the acid and water streams — and the company picked up a Federal Government Grant under the AusIndustry’s Climate Ready Program to help along.

The beginning of licensing interest

Two companies stepped forward in the early 2010s as potential licensees of Ethtec’s technology — the company mentioned in 2009 that “Those include NQBE who are proposing a new sugar orientated factory in the Herbert River district.”

Another was Dorset Renewable Industries, which aimed to revive industry and jobs in the depressed timber industry areas of southern Tasmania.

JTL is Jiangsu Jintongling Fluid Machinery Technology Company Limited. ... Reuters says that “[JTL] is principally engaged in the research and development of air systems, as well as manufacture of fans and fluid machineries…and small-scale steam turbines for industrial use. “

Not a slam-dunk prospect for investing in pilot-stage cellulosic biofuels R&D — kudos to the Ethtec team for developing a strong partner in the form of an EPC that primarily had experiences with the power generation industry.

A question of yield

International observers such as The Digest have long gazed at DRI’s project descriptor and wondered about Ethtec’s yields.

Ethtec has been on the radar for quite some time — suffering from a lack of investor interest that has plagued Australian advanced biotechnology development, and forced most companies to seek project partners and strategic investors far from Aussie shores. Licella has aimed at Canada and the UK for its first commercial projects; Leaf Resources has aimed at Malaysia. Now, Chinese investment has been critical to move Ethtec along.

But it’s a significant step forward for ARENA as well. It’s been so focused on green power at the expense of green transport fuels that one wag dubbed the agency AGRIPPA (Australian Green Power is Pulling Politicians Astray).

But, here is a grown-up investment tackling a pressing Aussie problem: Australia’s long-term emissions problems are rooted in transport — air and road — it’s a big country and its vast regional geography produces the foundation of Australia’s economy in the form of mining, energy and agriculture. 40 percent of Australian emissions relate back to road and air transport using liquid fuels.

As Dr. Hewson noted, “There has been a lot of publicity around electricity security lately but what many people don’t realize is that oil is responsible for around 40% of Australia’s energy use, and this announcement makes it clear that ARENA is committed to funding the development of renewable transportation fuels as a means to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions.” READ MORE