WITH little or no fanfare, Australia’s first grain-to-ethanol plant has quietly passed its first milestone, having been in business for a little over 12 months.
The Dalby Bio-Refinery (DBR) has suffered finger-pointing over water useage, but this has now been allayed by the construction of the Western Downs Regional Council’s recycled water treatment plant.
Plus it has sustained opposition on the part of the Australian Lot Feeders Association and motoring organisations, to name but a few.
But earlier this week AgForce attracted two bus loads of interested people to the complex – ranging from producers to agricultural students – who were greeted by the site’s safety manager, David Stephens.
"It’s still the only grain-to-ethanol plant in Australia, possibly one of only three in the world," Mr Stephens said.
Today, the production of ethanol, which is all about converting grain starch into a quarter of a million litres of alcohol every 24 hours, results in a daily grind of about 400 tonnes of sorghum.
Two grades principally are on offer: a fuel grade ethanol and an industrial grade, the latter being earmarked for laboratories.
It is also currently producing wet distillers' grain, which is attracting great interest on the part of livestock producers, plus another by-product, syrup.
Fuel-grade product is transported as far north as Rockhampton, but also to Brisbane, with the syrup attracting interest from Augathella in the west and the wet distillers' grains remains in demand all around the Darling Downs.
As well, the plant has honoured its employment commitment with 60 people finding full-time work at the site, which is located just north of Dalby.
With the plant running 24-hours/day, seven-days-a-week, there’s great emphasis on safety because a wide range of chemicals are stored and used in the production processes.
The plant's boilers are powered by natural gas accessed from the Roma/Brisbane pipeline.
The site's logistics sound daunting with daily water consumption at about 1ML, while producing about 500 tonnes of wet distillers' grains, alongside a two million litre storeage facility.
Local producer Wayne Newton said it was "very interesting" to have a look at the ethanol plant.
"It’s one of the major outlets for our grain now," he said.
Believing more plants will be built in Australia, the suggestion is they might encompass new biofuel technologies such as cellulosic ethanol using the non-edible parts of plants, wood, or grasses.
"I think it (the Dalby plant) is a success story," Mr Newton said.
"Although they still have issues from time to time, it is early days."
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