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Rural Industries Research & Development Corporation
Summary of full report
Wood for Alcohol Fuels - Using
farm forestry for bioenergy -
The JVAP Research Update Series
No.7
By Enecon Pty Ltd May 2003
Publication No. 03/018 Project No. EPL-2A
The Joint Venture Agroforestry Program (JVAP) has identified a need to develop farm forestry in many agricultural regions, in particular low to medium rainfall areas. Trees can help balance water flows in many landscapes and thus reduce the adverse impacts of salt that is otherwise brought to the surface by rising water tables. As such, large scale tree planting is seen as an important mechanism for reducing and managing dryland salinity.
If new commercial uses are to be found for wood products, the incidence of tree planting by farmers would be expected to be far greater and more sustainable than if the trees were planted purely for environmental or aesthetic reasons. In addition, commercial uses for trees grown via farm forestry would provide new sources of income for farmers, and potentially add to the economic stability of rural Australia.
Plantation forestry, based around pine and eucalypts such
as blue gum, is already well established in coastal regions with high rainfall.
However, the dryer inland regions of Australia with rainfall of 600 mm
or below are not so well suited to commercial forestry with such species.
If commercial forestry is to be developed in these regions it will benefit
from new industries that are based on the use of tree species particularly
suited to the regions; for example the mallee eucalypts that grow in much
of dryland Australia.
Of many potential new industries, one that is receiving
particular interest is the production of renewable biofuels from wood.
These include the alcohols ethanol and methanol for use as liquid transport
fuels. The potential market for these fuels in Australia is considerable,
with the projected liquid fuel usage within 20 years estimated to be 35,000
Ml/a. An Australian liquid fuels industry using biomass for feed would
be a driver for tree planting on a massive scale, as illustrated in the
table below.
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