Queensland researchers experiment with pongamia

Researchers say they are excited by a new source of biofuel currently being grown in southern Queensland’s Lockyer Valley in Australia. Three-hundred pongamia trees have been planted as part of a trial at the University of Queensland’s Gatton campus. Legume researcher Peter Grasshoff says each tree produces 30,000 seeds capable of yielding five tons of biodiesel each year. He says the tree is also good at capturing carbon and adding nitrogen to the soil. “The purpose for the trial that we have at Gatton is to see how much carbon sequestration, how much carbon gets taken out of the air and is assimilated within the plant and is first stored as wood and leaf and roots but later of course will be stored as the oil,” he said. (December 8, 2009)