Australian Renewable Energy Agency Announces Funding For Biofuel Production

On February 24, 2015, the
Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) announced $5.2 million in funding
that would go to the design and construction of a pilot
scale biofuel production facility in Perth. The company in charge
of creating the facility is Renergi, a startup established in 2012 with the
goal of commercializing a suite of energy technologies that were developed in
Curtin University’s Fuels and Energy Technology Institute. The production
facility will contain a 100 kg per hour biomass conversion unit and a 20 liter
per hour biorefinery unit. As described in the ARENA announcement, the plant
will convert agriculture waste, as well as other biomass, into transport fuels
through a process that “incorporates steel grinding balls into a rotating
biomass conversion unit, allowing simultaneous break-down and
gasification.” The project is expected to cost a total of $12.9 million
and be completed in October
2017.