On Site Processing of Timber Waste Bio Fule ???

Could this be an opportunity for botom-up economic development ?

http://www.nextenergynews.com/news1/next-energy-news2.5c.html

New Chemical Process Turns Forest Waste into Bio-Crude

CSIRO and Monash University have developed a chemical process that turns green waste into a stable bio-crude oil.The bio-crude oil can be used to produce high value chemicals and biofuels, including both petrol and diesel replacement fuels.

“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,” says Dr Steven Loffler of CSIRO Forest Biosciences.

“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.”

The process uses low value waste such as forest thinnings, crop residues, waste paper and garden waste, significant amounts of which are currently dumped in landfill or burned.

“We’ve been able to create a concentrated bio-crude which is much more stable than that achieved elsewhere in the world.”Dr Steven Loffler

“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 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.

This entry was posted on 6. February 2008 at 13:20 and is filed under Alternative Crops & Enterprises, Biofuels from Farms, Rural Development, Family farm Opportunities, Alternative Energy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.

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