Australian Paper Partners with CSIRO on Lignin Biorefinery

Australian Paper, working with the CSIRO, a European technology leader and Federation University, will be pushing through with plans to create a biomanufacturing hub in the Latrobe Valley that could generate several thousand jobs.

The venture aims to use AP's existing 50 megawatt biomass plant to form the core of a biomanufacturing facility. The refinery would use lignin extracted from trees to make a range of high-tech, renewable bioproducts. About $2.7 million is required for a feasibility study to prove the concept. If successful, this would be followed by a $20 million pilot plant in 2020 and a $100 million full-scale bio-refinery in 2022.

A critical part of AP's plan is the immediate establishment of a research centre, a BioCore, with Federation University, VTT and CSIRO. This is expected to cost $38 million $15 million for the facility and $23 million for staff over five years. FU's Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Professor Leigh Sullivan, said that FU would provide engineering and systems and other expertise to the project.

The biomanufacturing concept was set out at a seminar last week at Federation University in Churchill. Speakers emphasized the concept of the "circular bio-economy" in the event. An example would be when waste energy from a plant is put into the grid and nurtures new companies, which in turn generate waste, which is then returned to the energy plant - and the cycle begins again.