An Australian scientific breakthrough, the Biomass Oil Project, is poised to transform biofuel production by increasing oil yields from plants without impacting food supplies.
Developed over a decade by CSIRO, the technology has been acquired by agricultural innovation company Nufarm, which today announced plans to lead a global partnership to advance and commercialise this sustainable biofuel solution.
While plant oils are traditionally derived from seeds and fruits, CSIRO scientists have extended oil production to include plant biomass, such as leaves and stems.
This expanded approach offers an alternative to fossil fuels by increasing oil output without encroaching on food crop resources, CSIRO said in a news release.
Dr Thomas Vanhercke, a CSIRO scientist who has worked on the project since its inception, explained the team’s motivation for the technology.
“We were inspired to develop this technology in response to the world’s need for increased production of plant oil without impacting on food security,” Dr Vanhercke said.
“With CSIRO’s existing expertise in the area and the partnership with Nufarm on the Omega-3 canola project, we started thinking about how to extend that to the challenge of developing industrial scale feedstock oil from plants.”
The project’s current lead, Dr Xue-Rong Zhou, described the technology as a major advancement for Australia and the biofuel industry.
“This development of new biofuels and renewable oils will support a sustainable future,” Dr Zhou said.
“We are looking forward to working with Nufarm and our global research partners to deploy the technology into high biomass energy cane and sorghum varieties and make it a reality.”
Nufarm CEO Greg Hunt emphasised the importance of the global research network, which now includes expertise from CSIRO, the University of Florida, and Brazil’s Instituto Agronomico (IAC).
“We have assembled a consortium of world-class R&D and technical partners who bring unique experience to develop this technology,” Hunt said.
“Nufarm is also working with key strategic partners to further support the technical project development and future downstream commercialisation.”
