Queensland Biodiesel to build Australia’s largest biodiesel plant in Mackay

The Mackay Port Authority says plans are underway to make Mackay, in north Queensland, the home of Australia’s largest biodiesel plant. Queensland Biodiesel is preparing to submit development approval applications with the Environmental Protection Agency for the US$50 million plant. If approved, the plant will create 120 jobs for the region and produce 180 million liters of alternative fuel from sunflowers, canola and soybeans. Authority Chief Executive Jeffery Stewart-Harris says so far there have been no hitches to the project. “When we first signed an agreement to lease with Biodiesel back in September-October last year, we anticipated, as they did, that it would take about 18 months for them to get design and planning and environmental approvals and all of those things sorted out,” he said. “So we are anticipating something in about 12 months’ time.” (May 28, 2008)