WA’s world first – 10 oil-mallee bioenergy plants

Good news for oil mallee growers

Up to 10 oil-mallee processing plants are planned in regional WA, south west of Perth – a successful outcome to a huge collaborative affort in experimental Integrated Wood Processing (IWP), designed to address greenhouse gas emissions and farmland salinity, and produce electricity.

In March, Western Power threatened to scrap funding for trials in Narrogin but a breakthrough came when the trials managed to activate the carbon process.

Now WA Energy Minister Fran Logan wants to use the trees on a commercial scale saying the State Government “would be looking at up to 10, five mega-watt plants spread throughout the wheatbelt.”

Oil Mallee Association spokesman Michael Kerkmans has welcomed the announcement.

About the plants

• They use locally-planted oil-mallees to generate electricity;
• They produce activated carbon (used in air and liquid purification);
• and eucalyptus oil.

• The plant partially burns the wood producing charcoal;
• steam activation technology converts the charcoal to activated carbon;
• eucalyptus oil is distilled from the leaves;
• spent leaves are then ?gasified? to produce fuel for the boiler.

Related PWF article ‘Work continues on WA’s Bioenergy Plant at Narrogin’.