New Mackay plant to lead Australia in biofuels industry

A new A$10 million (US$8.72 million) bio pilot plant in Mackay, a city on the eastern coast of Queensland, will help Australia become a leading player in the revolutionary new bio products industry. Bio products are fuels, plastics and chemicals made from plants (biomass) instead of petroleum. Premier Anna Bligh said the Queensland University of Technology’s Mackay Renewable Biocommodities Pilot Plant will road test technologies and help refine and develop them to prove they can work on a commercial scale. “One of the plant’s first research projects will focus on turning bagasse, the waste product from sugar cane production, into ethanol,” said Bligh. (July 9, 2010)