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Report on biofuel production in WA released

Media release : 5th February 2009

The Department of Agriculture and Food today released the CSIRO Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) report on biofuel production in Western Australia.

Department grains market analyst Anne Wilkins said the report was commissioned to look at potential ethanol and biofuel production benefits.

“It includes both an analysis of ethanol production from a wheat-based plant in Kwinana and biodiesel production from a tallow-based plant in Picton, using local data along the supply chain,” she said

“The report concluded that there were positive greenhouse gas savings from biofuels based on an ethanol (E)10 blend and a biodiesel (B) 5 blend.

“These savings represent an approximately six per cent reduction in greenhouse gases for the transport sector in Western Australia.

“The most significant contributor to the greenhouse gas reduction was the electricity production from the ethanol plant. This was achieved through an anaerobic digester plant producing biogas (consisting mostly of methane), which is used to generate heat and green electricity.

“The greenhouse gas reduction would be halved to three per cent if the plant did not include a bio-digester.”

Ms Wilkins said the report also included an analysis of the energy balance from the use of biofuels.

“For each unit of fossil energy used in the ethanol process, including the bio-digester, 9.7 units of useable energy are produced, while 1.47 units of energy are produced without the bio-digester,” she said.

“For each unit of fossil energy put into the biodiesel lifecycle, 3.3 units of useable energy are produced.

“This means that both biodiesel and ethanol plants reduce the total demand for fossil fuels, especially the demand for crude oil, which is excellent from a fuel security perspective.”

The CSIRO report is available on the Department of Agriculture and Food's website www.agric.wa.gov.au/biofuels.

For further information on the analysis, contact the department's Anne Wilkins on 0429 884 956 or awilkins@agric.wa.gov.au.

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