Oil That Grows On Trees  

The SMH reports that CSIRO scientists have developed a process to make "biocrude" from organic waste (via The Oil Drum ANZ).

AUSTRALIAN scientists have made a biofuels breakthrough, turning waste products like paper and wood trimmings, crop residue and garden clippings into a stable "bio-crude".

If successfully commercialised, the process could massively reduce the amount of waste going into landfills and help the biofuels industry steer clear of the controversial food versus fuel debate. Most of the world's biofuel is made from food crops such as corn and sugar. Many oppose biofuels because they believe they will lead to higher food prices and hunger among the poor.

The great hope is second-generation technology that enables fuel to be made from waste material like the stalks and leaves of food crops. Using the process developed by the CSIRO and Monash University, bio-crude could be made on-site at the likes of timber mills then trucked or piped to a refinery to be turned into a petrol substitute.

Steven Loffler from CSIRO Forest Biosciences said the new process had taken 18 months to develop and the key breakthrough was producing a bio-crude that was stable enough to be stored and transported. Until now, bio-crude made from waste quickly broke down and became useless.

"By making changes to the chemical process, we've been able to create a concentrated bio-crude which is much more stable than that achieved elsewhere in the world," Dr Loffler said. "This makes it practical and economical to produce bio-crude in local areas for transport to a central refinery, overcoming the high costs and greenhouse gas emissions otherwise involved in transporting bulky green wastes over long distances."

In Australia, biofuel production is still very small, accounting for less than 0.5 per cent of transport fuel consumption. NSW has a 2 per cent biofuels mandate and the Federal Government pays a subsidy for biofuel production.

But the Parliamentary Library in Canberra has just produced a report saying there is no evidence to support a mandate. The report noted the subsidised cost of creating jobs in the Australian ethanol industry was already so high that "it would be cheaper to pay each worker average weekly earnings to do nothing".

The bio-crude oil can be used to produce high value chemicals and biofuels, including both petrol and diesel replacement fuels. ...

“By using waste, our Furafuel technology overcomes the food versus fuel debate which surrounds biofuels generated from grains, corn and sugar,” says Dr Loffler. “The project forms part of CSIRO’s commitment to delivering cleaner energy and reducing greenhouse gas emissions by improving technologies for converting waste biomass to transport fuels.”

The plant wastes being targeted for conversion into biofuels contain chemicals known as lignocellulose, which is increasingly favoured around the world as a raw material for the next generation of bio-ethanol. Lignocellulose is both renewable and potentially greenhouse gas neutral. It is predominantly found in trees and is made up of cellulose; lignin, a natural plastic; and hemicellulose.