The finite nature of the world’s oil reserves, and the speed with which they are being exhausted, has prompted a Welshpool company to develop portable, low operating cost technology to produce biodiesel from a range of natural oils and fats.
The finite nature of the world’s oil reserves, and the speed with which they are being exhausted, has prompted a Welshpool company to develop portable, low operating cost technology to produce biodiesel from a range of natural oils and fats.
Biodiesel Australia Ltd executive chairman Colin Anderson told WA Business News the portable units, which weigh 750 kilograms, could produce biodiesel from animal tallow, vegetable oils including palm oil, palm oil waste, low-cost feedstock such as used cooking oils and grease trap waste.
“We have covered the whole spectrum [of biodiesels] and this is what we have spent the last six years trying to prove,” Mr Anderson said.
He said the BDA production units could produce up to 10 million litres of biodiesel on a constant shift basis, however, as a commercial reality, the units are rated at six million litres a year.
The portable units can be moved by road, rail or ship, potentially providing regional centres with their own independent biodiesel facility.
The units can also operate in tandem to increase annual production at a given site by six million litre increments.
Mr Anderson said the company initially looked at where best to source the material required for the production of biodiesel.
“When we looked over the fence we saw a jungle of potential clients, including abattoirs and food manufacturers,” he said.
“So we searched and hunted around and found this group of people that were in these rendering plants and abattoirs which could produce five million litres of biodiesel a year from the likes of tallow and grease trap waste.
“They can install the plant in their abattoir, for example, and it doesn’t take up much space, it doesn’t hinder their operations.”
The revenue model for the production unit is on a ‘toll-processing-fee’ basis with Biodiesel Australia retaining ownership of all equipment and safeguarding intellectual property.
“We don’t sell the plants, they are given out on a toll basis,” Mr Anderson said. “As soon as a plant goes out, it starts earning its revenue.
“The reason why we can do this is because of the ability of our plants to produce a product that is economically viable to the client within two or three months.”
The toll-fee system frees clients from high capital costs associated with current static biodiesel plants.
The company started its investigations into biodiesel manufacturing technology in 2000 and currently has four units, with one based in Malaysia and a number of potential orders from the eastern states.
Biodiesel Australia was one of the first biodiesel companies in Australia, incorporated as Sumatra Gas Pty Ltd in May 1994 before being renamed in 1999.
The operation was converted to a public company in 2004 with about 43 per cent of the company owned by Mr Anderson and executive director, Ray Muskett.
Biodiesel Australia owns the patent rights to the biodiesel manufacturing technology.
