Pilot Sewage to Crude Oil Plant Gets $4 Million Funding
(Biofuels International) $4 million AUD (€2.5 million) in funding is set to be provided to Australia’s Southern Oil Refining for a pilot plant which will turn biosolids from sewage to crude oil. According to a statement, the demonstration plant will be the first step towards developing biosolid waste to renewable fuels plants at sewage treatment facilities in Australia.
The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) will provide the funding on behalf of the Australian government for the pilot at a refinery near Gladstone, Queensland.
Over 300,000 tonnes of biosolids, a byproduct of the treatment of wastewater, are produced in Australia each year, according to an ARENA statement.
The pilot project will cost AUD$11.8 million (€7.49 million) in total, and will see a demonstration scale hydrothermal liquefaction reactor built to produce the crude oil from biosolids. The process will involves the treatment of biosolids using a thermochemical conversion process. READ MORE