WA well placed to 'grow' new fuel supplies

West Australian
26 January 2011, Page: 19

Biofuels have an important place in the mix of renewable and sustainable energy sources for the 21st century. Although other renewable energy sources such as wind, solar and hydro can be used to produce electricity, biofuels are essential for the production of the liquid fuels necessary for road transport, shipping, heavy mining machinery and aviation. Biofuels are basically the result of photosynthesis which captures the energy from sunlight and converts it to organic molecules rich in energy.

The oils from oil seed plants such as canola and oil palms are already being converted to biodiesel, and sugar and starches from sugar cane, corn and wheat are being fermented to produce ethanol, which is blended with petrol for motor vehicles. The cellulose from plants such as eucalypts, wheat straw and forestry waste also can be processed to make ethanol. The use of biofuels also results in much lower net carbon emissions compared with fossil fuels. There has been some debate on whether biofuels will compete with food crops or will lead to the destruction of rainforests to create palm oil plantations.

However, many new biofuel crops are being developed on marginal land unsuited for normal food crops. For example, mallee in WA can be grown between crops where it not only serves as wind breaks but also produces biomass for biofuel production. Other new eucalyptus varieties are being developed with superior properties for conversion to biofuel, especially bioethanol.

Among the most exciting future fuel crops are algae. Some species of these microscopic plants can contain up to 50% of oil suitable for conversion to biodiesel and aviation fuel. They can be grown using saline water, thus not competing for the very limited supply of fresh water and they require only about 10 to 20% of the land area compared with the best biofuel crops, to produce the same amount of fuel.

WA is uniquely placed to become a future biofuels hub. We have abundant sunshine, a key requirement for high productivity large areas of marginal land and, for algae production, abundant sources of saline water such as saline groundwater and sea water. The challenge to WA and to Australia will be to capitalise on the unique advantages for the production of biofuel crops which have the potential to replace a significant proportion of our liquid fuel imports.

Michael Borowitzka is a professor at Murdoch University's School of Biological Sciences and Biotechnology.