Early Positive Signs for Qld Biofuels

There are early signs that the Biofuels mandate in Queensland is driving interest in biofuels.

The industry had been held back by a lack of consumer understanding around the benefits of E10.

With more than 400,000 motorists already checking if their car is compatible with E10 it shows that there is real interest in the product.

While the mandate has only been in operation for three months, there are early signs of an uptick in demand.

Mr Sutton said the Queensland Government’s E10OK advertising campaign had been effective in educating motorists about the benefits.

An analysis by the RACQ indicated that 35.6 million litres of E10 was sold in October ahead of the January mandate.”

Queensland is the centre of the biofuels industry with two ethanol plants and a biodiesel plant located in the State.

The full benefits of biofuels include:

• Improves the air we breathe – e10 reduces hydrocarbon emissions by up to 30% and particulate emissions by up to a massive 50%. It is these emissions that can very detrimentally affect the health of people.
• E10 is better – The addition of 10% ethanol in regular unleaded petrol improves performance in engines as the fuel burns more completely.

GREEN SHOOTS FOR BIOFUELS IN QUEENSLAND

The introduction of a biofuels mandate in Queensland appears to paying dividends – a great boost for an industry buffeted by cost pressures and misinformation.

The Queensland Government is reporting a 30% increase in demand for E10 in the sunshine state.

A lack of understanding on the benefits of E10 has held the industry back, but the Government’s education campaign has been a roaring a success.

More than 500,000 motorists have checked the Queensland Government website to see if their car is compatible – and that’s a game changer for the industry.

The E10 Ok campaign proves that there is a real interest in the biofuel.

If the industry can continue to grow then it will mean more jobs for regional Queensland.

The United Petroleum plant at Dalby is already moving to expand its plant.

The plant will undergo a $26 million expansion, with the help of the Queensland Government bio-futures incentive program.

The plant currently produces 76 million litres per year of ethanol from locally grown sorghum – the expansion will boost production to 100 million litres per year.

The project is expected to generate an extra 50 jobs and that proves that a growing industry can provide valuable …

MANDATE REMAINS KEY TO BIODIESEL INDUSTRY

The Australia biodiesel industry is still trying to negotiate deals with oil companies to ramp up production, despite the introduction of a second State mandate

There are some promising signs in Queensland following the introduction of mandate on January 1, however that is yet to flow through to the industry with supply contracts.

The Ecotech biodiesel plant, which is based just north of Brisbane, is only producing a fraction of its capacity.

The biodiesel sector has been hit by low oil prices and a major spike in feedstock prices which are key ingredients in the production process

This has made it very difficult to operate on a commercial basis.

Another plant at Barnawartha went into receivership 18 months ago and other plants have reduced production.

The cost of raw materials like used cooking oil and tallow jumped sharply 12 months ago with strong demand from Europe and the U.S where biofuels are strongly supported by government policy.

The biofuels mandate, which for diesel started at .05% this year, gave renewed hope to the industry in Queensland.

Biodiesel is blended with mineral diesel at 5% and known in the market as B5.

There have been some teething issues getting the supply …