The funding allows the construction of the Hunter Pilot Biorefinery (HPB) to go ahead on council land in Thomas Mitchell Drive, which is expected to employ up to 20 researchers and technicians, demonstrate a revolutionary process to produce fuel from crop and forest waste and assist in commercialising ethanol fuel sourced from non-food biomass.

Apace Research Limited (Apace) and Muswellbrook Shire Council welcomed the outlay, via the Growing Local Economies Fund.

Three years of work by council alongside Apace, biofuel company Ethanol Technologies Limited (Ethtec), the University of Newcastle and the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) has culminated in confirmation of the final funding component of the pilot facility.

“I am delighted to have supported this important $4.6 million NSW Government investment in our Muswellbrook region, which will enable this centre to contribute greatly to biorenewables research,” Upper Hunter MP Michael Johnsen said. 

“Growing Local Economies is designed to unlock growth in regional NSW by delivering the infrastructure that supports projects of economic significance to our rural and regional communities; and the program is expected to deliver long-term growth benefits.”

The open access biorenewables research hub aims to significantly reduce the cost associated with research, development and demonstration of biomass-based processes at pilot plant scale, in order to allow more biomass-based research projects to successfully transition from benchtop to implementation at commercial scale.

To be successful, biorenewable hubs need two important factors in common – an existing skills base and an economy in transition. 

Muswellbrook Shire mayor Martin Rush said, along with existing infrastructure, the resources already existed in the region and offered attractive investment opportunities.

“This is a major economic development initiative for the area,” he said.

“Council has worked alongside Apace, Ethtec and the University of Newcastle to initiate this project in the shire and we welcome the significant contributions from all partners involved at all levels of government.

“The project is in line with the goals of council’s Community Strategic Plan and the Hunter Regional Plan – both of which prioritise the funding of regional projects that help diversify and grow the Upper Hunter economy.”

Apace managing director and chief chemist Dr Russell Reeves considers the HPB will enable a higher rate of commercial deployment of biorefining and bioenergy technologies.

“The facility will be state-of-the-art and contain general purpose biomass processing and fermentation equipment that will be broadly applicable to a range of technologies,” he explained.

“Now that the funding is in place, we look forward to discussing projects with a range of stakeholders including industry, universities and government.”

The HPB will host the Ethtec Cellulosic Ethanol Pilot Plant Project that is partly-funded by the recently-announced investment by ARENA and supported by the University of Newcastle, through the Newcastle Institute for Energy and Resources (NIER) and the School of Environmental and Life Sciences.

“The facility has the potential to revolutionise how we look at biomass,” Ethtec senior biotechnologist Dr Geoff Doherty said.

“We are on the cusp of being able to transform low-value biomass into high-value products such as biofuels and green chemicals. 

“Being able to demonstrate these technologies at pilot plant scale is an essential step on the commercialisation pathway.”

Ethtec senior research engineer Andrew Reeves said technologies developed in the HPB over the coming years had the potential to transform the Upper Hunter into a biorenewables hub.

“A prosperous mining industry with associated areas of land requiring bioremediation presents an opportunity to grow feedstocks for a local bioeconomy,” he added.

“We have had productive discussions with local mining companies on this topic and we look forward to progressing discussions now that the funding for the HPB is in place.”

NIER director Professor Alan Broadfoot believes it’s a timely investment.

“There is a global push to capture value from agricultural and forestry waste streams,” he said.

“A facility like this has the potential to bring new skills to the Hunter Valley and will complement the university’s existing research in energy and resources within the region.”