Boral to study the feasibility of a biorefinery turning sawmill residue into renewable diesel

Type of post: NEWS.

The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) on behalf of the Australian Government will fund a study to investigate the feasibility of building a biorefinery that produces advanced biofuels through a ground-breaking technology (see press release, 24/07/2018).

Company	Boral Timber (subsidiary of Boral Limited). Boral is an international building products and construction materials group.
Feasibility study
Total cost	1.2 million A$.
ARENA fund	0.5 million A$.
Proposed biorefinery (if the study is successful)
Location	Adjacent to the Boral Timber Hardwood Sawmill at Herons Creek near Port Macquarie (Mid North Coast of New South Wales).
Feedstocks and processing capacity	50,000 tons of sawmill residues. The residues include sawdust, remnant woodchips, shavings and offcuts (currently utilised for lower value uses such as landscaping and boiler fuel).
Products	Transport-grade renewable diesel. Bitumen.
Technology	Mechanical Catalytic Conversion (MECC). It has been developed by the Spanish-based Global Ecofuel Solutions SL (GEFS).
Total cost	50 million A$.

Figure 1. The biorefinery would be located close to the Boral Timber Hardwood Sawmill at Herons Creek

The core of the MECC process is a mechanical/thermal reactor developed by GEFS. The feedstock, carrier oil and catalysts are exposed to friction forces resulting in short term heating up and decomposition of the solid materials.

This new technology could see residue from sawmill operations be used to reduce Boral’s reliance on diesel and bitumen derived from fossil sources. The renewable diesel produced at the potential new biorefinery could eventually account for up to 15% of Boral’s annual diesel needs. This company is one of the largest consumers of bitumen and has one of the largest truck fleets in Australia (using approximately 100 Ml of diesel each year).