South Perth, Western Australia
February 5, 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 |
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