 | |
| Private | |
| Industry | Energy |
| Founded | 06/01/2006 however research into viability of Pongamia pinnata and other biofuel feedstocks was done from 2003 and earlier. |
| Headquarters | Caboolture, Queensland, Australia |
| Products | Genetically selected varieties of Pongamia pinnata / Millettia pinnata. |
| Website | www.pacificrenewableenergy.com.au |
In 2003 the directors of PRE, who were the primary founders of The Australian Biodiesel Group Limited, began their search for a sustainable replacement for used cooking oil and Tallow which are currently used for biodiesel production in Australia. [1] Their search ended on finding Pongamia Pinnata and visiting the fledgling Pongamia oil industry in India. [2] They followed up this with a search for viable Australian native trees and then in the formation of Pacific Renewable Energy in January 2006. [3] After learning the high variability of seed grown trees, they talked to Professor Peter Gresshoff of the University of Queensland's legume research division. [4]
PRE has teamed up with and The ARC Centre Of Excellence For Integrative Legume Research (CILR) [5] to help identify and develop commercially viable genetic strains and develop clonal propagation methods appropriate for commercial production of Pongamia pinnata in Australia. This has involved salt tolerance tests, mapping of the Pongamia's Genome and a number of other associated projects. [6] According to Professor Peter Gresshoff and many who have worked with Pongamia, this research is vital for the establishment of a long-term commercial industry, particularly given the 4-6 year lead time before significant yields are realised. [7] [8]
PRE has partnered with CILR to plant a pilot plantation at Roma with Origin Energy. [9] PRE also has its own trial plantation at Caboolture and trials in a number of other locations. [10] [11] [12]
Origin is an Australian listed public energy company with headquarters in Sydney. It is an Australian Stock Exchange publicly listed company.
Sustainable biofuel is biofuel produced in a sustainable manner.
A biofuel is a fuel that is produced through contemporary biological processes, such as agriculture and anaerobic digestion, rather than a fuel produced by geological processes such as those involved in the formation of fossil fuels, such as coal and petroleum, from prehistoric biological matter. If the source biomatter can regrow quickly, the resulting fuel is said to be a form of renewable energy.
Biodiesel refers to a vegetable oil- or animal fat-based diesel fuel consisting of long-chain alkyl esters. Biodiesel is typically made by chemically reacting lipids with an alcohol producing fatty acid esters.
This article. biodiesel by region, describes the use and availability of biodiesel in various countries around the world.
An energy crop is a plant grown as a low-cost and low-maintenance harvest used to make biofuels, such as bioethanol, or combusted for its energy content to generate electricity or heat. Energy crops are generally categorized as woody or herbaceous plants; many of the latter are grasses of the family Graminaceae.
Pongamia oil is derived from the seeds of the Millettia pinnata tree, which is native to tropical and temperate Asia. Millettia pinnata, also known as Pongamia pinnata or Pongamia glabra, is common throughout Asia and thus has many different names in different languages, many of which have come to be used in English to describe the seed oil derived from M. pinnata; Pongamia is often used as the generic name for the tree and is derived from the genus the tree was originally placed in. Other names for this oil include honge oil, kanuga oil, karanja oil, and pungai oil.
Millettia pinnata is a species of tree in the pea family, Fabaceae, native in tropical and temperate Asia including parts of Indian subcontinent, China, Japan, Malaysia, Australia and Pacific islands. It is often known by the synonym Pongamia pinnata as it was moved to the genus Millettia only recently. Common names include Indian beech and Pongam oiltree.
Biofuel is fuel that is produced from organic matter (biomass), including plant materials and animal waste. It is considered a renewable source of energy that can assist in reducing carbon emissions. The two main types of biofuel currently being produced in Australia are biodiesel and bioethanol, used as replacements for diesel and petrol (gasoline) respectively. As of 2017 Australia is a relatively small producer of biofuels, accounting for 0.2% of world bioethanol production and 0.1% of world biodiesel production.
The energy policy of Australia is subject to the regulatory and fiscal influence of all three levels of government in Australia, although only the State and Federal levels determine policy for primary industries such as coal.
The production of renewable energy in Scotland is an issue that has come to the fore in technical, economic, and political terms during the opening years of the 21st century. The natural resource base for renewable energy is extraordinary by European, and even global standards, with the most important potential sources being wind, wave, and tide.
Vegetable oils are increasingly used as a substitute for fossil fuels. Vegetable oils are the basis of biodiesel, which can be used like conventional diesel. Some vegetable oil blends are used in unmodified vehicles, but straight vegetable oil needs specially prepared vehicles which have a method of heating the oil to reduce its viscosity and surface tension. Another alternative is vegetable oil refining.
Renewable energy in Australia deals with efforts that have been and continue to be made in Australia to quantify and expand the use of renewable energy in the generation of electricity, as fuel in transport and in thermal energy. Renewable energy is created through electricity generation using renewable sources, such as wind, hydro, landfill gas, geothermal, solar PV and solar thermal.
Renewable energy commercialization involves the deployment of three generations of renewable energy technologies dating back more than 100 years. First-generation technologies, which are already mature and economically competitive, include biomass, hydroelectricity, geothermal power and heat. Second-generation technologies are market-ready and are being deployed at the present time; they include solar heating, photovoltaics, wind power, solar thermal power stations, and modern forms of bioenergy. Third-generation technologies require continued R&D efforts in order to make large contributions on a global scale and include advanced biomass gasification, hot-dry-rock geothermal power, and ocean energy. As of 2012, renewable energy accounts for about half of new nameplate electrical capacity installed and costs are continuing to fall.
Millettia is a genus of legume in the Fabaceae family. It consists of about 150 species, which are distributed in the tropical and subtropical regions of the world.
Pongamia is a genus of legume in the Fabaceae family. Recently it has been proposed that the genus Pongamia be rejected in favor of the genus Millettia, and many species have been reclassified. Due to recent interest in biofuels, pongamia is often the generic name given for Millettia pinnata, a tree being explored for producing biodiesel.
China has set the goal of attaining one percent of its renewable energy generation through bioenergy in 2020.
Algae fuel, algal biofuel, or algal oil is an alternative to liquid fossil fuels that uses algae as its source of energy-rich oils. Also, algae fuels are an alternative to commonly known biofuel sources, such as corn and sugarcane. Several companies and government agencies are funding efforts to reduce capital and operating costs and make algae fuel production commercially viable. Like fossil fuel, algae fuel releases CO
2 when burnt, but unlike fossil fuel, algae fuel and other biofuels only release CO
2 recently removed from the atmosphere via photosynthesis as the algae or plant grew. The energy crisis and the world food crisis have ignited interest in algaculture for making biodiesel and other biofuels using land unsuitable for agriculture. Among algal fuels' attractive characteristics are that they can be grown with minimal impact on fresh water resources, can be produced using saline and wastewater, have a high flash point, and are biodegradable and relatively harmless to the environment if spilled. Algae cost more per unit mass than other second-generation biofuel crops due to high capital and operating costs, but are claimed to yield between 10 and 100 times more fuel per unit area. The United States Department of Energy estimates that if algae fuel replaced all the petroleum fuel in the United States, it would require 15,000 square miles (39,000 km2), which is only 0.42% of the U.S. map, or about half of the land area of Maine. This is less than 1⁄7 the area of corn harvested in the United States in 2000.
Queensland's energy policy is based on the year 2000 document called the Queensland Energy Policy: A Cleaner Energy Strategy. The Queensland Government assists energy development through the Department of Energy and Water Supply. The state is noted for its significant contribution to coal mining in Australia. The primary fuel for electricity generation in the state is coal with coal seam gas becoming a significant fuel source. Queensland has 98% of Australia's reserves of coal seam gas. An expansion of energy-intensive industries such as mining, economic growth and population growth have created increased demand for energy in Queensland.
The use of biofuels varies by region and with increasing oil prices there is a renewed interest in it as an energy source.