Forging ahead with small scale production technology

de Boer, K., Taylor, M. and Bahri, P.A.ORCID: 0000-0003-4661-5644 (2009) Forging ahead with small scale production technology. In: Bioenergy Australia 2009, 9 - 10 December 2009, Gold Coast, QLD

Abstract

Over the past three years the Australian biodiesel industry has struggled with rapidly increasing feedstock prices and an unfavourable taxation environment. These tough times have caused large scale producers to drastically curtail production with some even ceasing operation. Instead of sounding the end of the biodiesel industry in Australia, this can act as a stimulus for refocusing the scale of production. In this paper a new model of production is proposed that maintains the benefits of large production scales while taking advantage of the agility, low risk and decentralised nature of small scale production. This model consists of optimised small scale (1-5 million L/yr) production technology incorporated into a regional industry hub. The regional industry hub provides existing infrastructure as well as significant synergies with other industries to provide guaranteed product markets and reduced transport costs. A case study at Macco Feeds PTY LTD (Western Australia) is provided to examine the viability of this model in an industrial setting.

Item Type:	Conference Paper
Murdoch Affiliation:	School of Engineering and Energy
Conference Website:	http://www.bioenergyaustralia.org/
URI:	http://researchrepository.murdoch.edu.au/id/eprint/28694

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