{"id":335634,"date":"2025-12-08T20:29:13","date_gmt":"2025-12-08T20:29:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/335634\/"},"modified":"2025-12-08T20:29:13","modified_gmt":"2025-12-08T20:29:13","slug":"farmers-and-innovators-say-there-is-potential-in-australias-untapped-biofuel-sector","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/335634\/","title":{"rendered":"Farmers and innovators say there is potential in Australia’s untapped biofuel sector"},"content":{"rendered":"

Fifth-generation farmer Brett Hosking is preparing for harvest in Quambatook, western Victoria, where he grows wheat, barley and canola.<\/p>\n

As the Victorian Farmers Federation president, he sees an opportunity for the agricultural industry in the growth of low-carbon fuels.<\/p>\n

“I think there’s enormous opportunity,” he said.<\/p>\n

“We’ve seen it overseas for many years now.”<\/p>\n

The Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) estimates an Australian low-carbon liquid fuel industry could be worth $36 billion by 2050, with many across the agricultural and industrial sectors saying it is an untapped market.<\/p>\n

Renewable or low-carbon fuels are alternatives to fossil fuels and are often made from agricultural feedstock, such as canola oil, or waste products.<\/p>\n

They are used in industries that cannot be easily electrified, such as heavy transport or aviation.<\/p>\n

The United States, Brazil and the European Union are the largest low-carbon fuel producers globally.<\/p>\n

Liquid gold<\/p>\n

Australia exported nearly 6 million tonnes of canola from 2023\u20132024 to be turned into biofuel overseas.<\/p>\n

Now industry is advocating to create a domestic market for Australia to create and use its own biofuel.<\/p>\n

\"Wide<\/p>\n

Australia is already exporting a significant amount of canola for biofuel. (ABC South East SA: Elsie Adamo)<\/p>\n

“It will be a big boost for farmers, to be sure,” Mr Hosking said.<\/p>\n

“We produce an incredibly high-quality product \u2026 using very low emissions in our cropping systems.”<\/p>\n

Industry body GrainCorp’s head of agri-energy Jesse Scott said a local industry would lead to more investment in regional Australia and would service domestic demand.<\/p>\n

GrainCorp is working with Ampol and super fund IFM Investors to refine canola oil in Australia for use in the aviation industry<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“I fully expect that all parts of Australia are going to contribute feedstock,” Mr Scott said, adding that Victoria would play a major role.<\/p>\n

Waste not<\/p>\n

In Victoria’s east, a feasibility study is underway at the Australian Paper Mill, near Morwell, to investigate the viability of producing a new biofuel.<\/p>\n

The paper mill’s owner, Opal, has partnered with renewables developer European Energy Australia to assess the feasibility of carbon capture at the mill to capture biogenic carbon dioxide (CO2).<\/p>\n

Biogenic CO2 is carbon dioxide produced from natural sources, and is already produced at the Maryvale facility as a by-product of pulping from one of its boilers.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

The Maryvale Mill, near Morwell, stopped making white paper in 2023. (ABC News)<\/p>\n

When combined with renewable energy and water, biogenic CO2 can be used in the production of e-methanol, a low-carbon fuel and alternative to fossil fuels that can be used in freight ships.<\/p>\n

European Energy has already used this technology in Denmark to supply e-methanol to international shipping companies.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

David Jettner says Opal’s proposal could generate more than $25 million. (Supplied: Opal Australia)<\/p>\n

Opal’s general manager of environment and sustainability, David Jettner, said it was still early days but the project had the potential to generate between $25 million and $30 million.<\/p>\n

Should it prove to be successful, the project could deliver a significant injection into the local economy \u2014 a substantial turnaround for the company, which axed 400 jobs in 2023.<\/p>\n

Trash into treasure<\/p>\n

The study is not the first biofuel project being explored in the Gippsland region.<\/p>\n

An upcycling facility planned for the Wellington Shire that will recycle household waste into hydrogen and low-carbon fuels has been given the green light.<\/p>\n

The project, being run by Zerogen, Boson Energy and Xseed Solutions, aims to extract hydrogen for aviation fuel by gasifying household waste.<\/p>\n

Zerogen director Scott McArdle said the project would help to reduce waste while developing a low-carbon fuel that could be used in transport, particularly in aviation.<\/p>\n

“We are targeting those municipal waste, kerbside garbage, non-recyclables,” Mr McArdle said.<\/p>\n

“Being able to reduce the existing pressures on our landfill infrastructure, we get to extend the life of those facilities and create new industries around it.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Craig Allen says the plan is for the project to be operating by 2028. (Supplied: Xseed Solutions)<\/p>\n

Director of XSeed Solutions Craig Allen said the partners were working to secure funding, but the aim was to be operational by 2028.<\/p>\n

“Our Gippsland project continues to progress well,” he said.<\/p>\n

“We’re working closely with our partners as they finalise the initial funding round, which is expected to reach completion within the next couple of months.”<\/p>\n

Need for a fuel injection<\/p>\n

As part of its Future Made in Australia plan, the federal government is fast-tracking support for a low-carbon liquid fuel (LCLF) industry, recently announcing a $1 billion fund to encourage private investors to develop the market.<\/p>\n

The government says the domestic LCLF industry will initially focus on sustainable aviation fuel and renewable diesel to reduce emissions in fuel-reliant sectors, including transport, mining and agriculture.<\/p>\n

By 2040, an Australian renewable fuels industry could directly support 13,000 jobs and contribute $13 billion in GDP annually.<\/p>\n

While the grants process has been welcomed by industry, proponents say more needs to be done to get it off the ground.<\/p>\n

Mr Hosking said Australia would do well to follow the lead of the United Kingdom and European Union and mandate the use of LCLF, to guarantee a market for investors.<\/p>\n

“We are talking billions of dollars to build a low-carbon liquid fuel plant, so it’s not a small investment for anyone,” he said.<\/p>\n

“What we need is government to send a signal that there will be a guaranteed market for that product at the end.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Fifth-generation farmer Brett Hosking is preparing for harvest in Quambatook, western Victoria, where he grows wheat, barley and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":335635,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[38130,64,63,110217,32716,13442,182537,19230,187149,187148,187150,44,151871],"class_list":["post-335634","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-agribusiness","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-biofuel","tag-canola","tag-emissions","tag-fuel-security","tag-hydrogen","tag-lclf","tag-low-carbon-fuel","tag-low-carbon-liquid-fuel","tag-news","tag-saf"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335634","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=335634"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335634\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/335635"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=335634"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=335634"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=335634"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}