Truly Green and Sustainable - Online Eco Friendly Journal, News and Directory

Energy

Truly Green and Sustainable

Home Directory Features Gallery Glossary

Truly Green and Sustainable

Written by Suze Chalmers

Think of the BioCube as a community’s own green fuel station – just put in fruit at one end and out comes biodiesel at the other end. It even runs on its own biodiesel and the waste product from the processing unit can be used as either animal feed or a slow release fertiliser. What’s more, emissions from the BioCube engine are Euro4¹ compliant. Carbon emissions are reduced up to 70 per cent, greenhouse gas emissions by up to 90 per cent, with sulphur emissions, zero².

Next stop, the world – as global interest pours in.

The inventors have been inundated with requests for a BioCube since the pre-market production model of the green fuel station was launched earlier this year (2009). Enquiries have come from remote Australian communities, Tonga, Colombia, Africa, Asia, Mexico and even from the US military who want to trial it for use in the field.

However, inventors and developers at BioFuel Partnership’s Gold Coast office are not rushing the revolutionary machine out the door. “We want to make sure we have a robust machine that can cope in rugged conditions and deliver quality biodiesel for use in the remotest areas of the world,” inventor and company technical director, Sandy Kelly said.

A production model was recently placed in Papua New Guinea to conduct final trials on refined components before the manufacture of the market-ready model begins, ready for distribution in early 2010.

The BioCube itself is made of an expanded honeycomb structure, with a recyclable steel and plastic frame, an engine which should provide up to 20,000 hours of service, and costs around A$200,000. According to Sandy this is about one per cent of the cost of a mid-sized refinery and takes a fraction of the space. This all-in-one biodiesel plant has been designed to work in the toughest environments by a single person with a minimum of skill or maintenance

Food versus Fuel

The BioCube is designed to produce biodiesel (as distinct from biofuel) from energy efficient feedstocks that don’t feature in the food chain, and that can grow on low quality soil that wouldn’t sustain a food crop.

The design focus was on developing a machine that is flexible in the feedstock it uses, yet is primarily geared toward non-crop feedstocks such as Jatropha Curcas and Indian Beech, as these are totally removed from the food chain. Jatropha can prosper on poor quality soil that wouldn’t sustain most food crops; it also permits inter-cropping so that farmers can benefit from a continuous yield.

Whilst the BioCube can be used anywhere in the world, the emphasis is in the tropical zones that coincide with the world’s most impoverished areas and where these non-edible, high oil bearing fruits grow naturally.

Powerful Solution

The BioCube is a powerful solution to the need for sustainable wealth creation in developing communities. It generates a continuous source of affordable energy that can bring prosperity, enhance the community and benefit the planet – without competing with food stocks.

Biofuels Partnership Chairman John Edwards believes that with the tremendous amount of support from aid agencies around the world the units will be able to be installed in the poorer areas of the world.

“The cost benefit of producing biodiesel locally, rather than spending time and limited funds to import fuel to run machinery in remote areas, will always be more financially viable,” John explained. In fact several different church groups in one area of Tonga had already banded together to raise the capital for a BioCube. The plan is that the whole community will use the biodiesel produced by this machine.

Australian Grown

Company commercial director Laurence Baum said funding received under the Australian Government's AusIndustry Climate Ready program, as well as being registered for the R&D Tax Concession, had proven invaluable in allowing the company to spend time in research and development. However their next mission is to roll machines out across the globe through carefully selected distributors.

While parts and key components of the BioCube will be manufactured in Australia and shipped to distributors for assembly, before being delivered, “What we need now is responsible, well-connected distributors and we will be working with overseas contacts to further market the BioCube,” Laurence explained.

Want to know more? Check these sources:

Ausindustry: visit www.ausindustry.gov.au, call 13 28 46 or email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
The BioCube and Biofuels Partnership: visit www.biofuelpartnership.com

¹ European emission standard – defining “acceptable” EU limits for exhaust emissions

² Compared to emissions from petroleum diesel fuel

---
More information about this topic in our energy section.