Potential cineole cost and availability from mallee eucalypt shelterbelt plantations in Western Australia

[摘要] This report describes the potential yield and cost of cineole, as a feedstock for ‘green polymer production, from a commercial scale agroforestry system of mallee eucalypts in Western Australia. Two case studies are explored; a larger jet-fuel production case study, which aims to deliver a total of 158,000 tonnes of biomass per year across two plants in south-western WA for processing into jet fuel, and a smaller case study around delivery of 2,300 tonnes per year of biomass to supply the heat and power requirements of an abattoir in Katanning, south-western Australia. In both cases estimated production cost of cineole was below the current world market price of $12-30/kg (or more, depending on purity), at around $2.47/kg for the jet fuel case study, and $5.21/kg for the abattoir case study (prices are delivered to buyer in Perth). These values were both below the current market price of cineole. In the jet fuel case, the large volume of cineole production could potentially reduce the price received for cineole because it could add 50% more volume to the annual global traded quantity. Even the larger jet-fuel production case study had a relatively small footprint in the WA wheatbelt, occupying less than 10% of 250,000 ha of pastured land around Katanning, which in turn is around 2% of the total wheatbelt area, so there is significant potential to upscale the cineole production further once an industry is established. It needs to be recognised that a mallee industry is still prospective, and further work and investment needs to occur for it to realise its potential.

[发布日期] 2016-04-01 [发布机构] CSIRO

[效力级别] Forestry Biomass and Bioproducts [学科分类] 地球科学(综合)