Holden-backed Flex Ethanol Australia to turn waste into fuel
GM Holden will support a new Australian company that aims to turn household rubbish into ethanol to fuel cars.
Flex Ethanol Australia plans to establish a plant in Victoria capable of turning up to one million tonnes of household and building waste into more than 200 million litres of ethanol per year.
Ethanol produced at the plant would be used in a range of fuel blends, including E85 (85 percent ethanol, 15 percent standard petrol), which can be used to power flex-fuel vehicles in Holden’s VE Series II Commodore range.
Holden Chairman and Managing Director, Mike Devereux, said the new company was an important milestone in Australia’s automotive fuel future.
“Our vision is that this technology, and the shift towards ethanol-based fuel, in time, could cut Australia’s dependence on petrol by up to 30 percent and make a major contribution to sustainable motoring and greenhouse gas reduction,” Mr Devereux said.
He said Holden’s investment in manufacturing vehicles capable of running on high-blend ethanol fuel and its involvement in the development of a “second-generation” ethanol plant demonstrated the brand’s commitment to sustainable motoring in Australia through reducing greenhouse emissions and improving energy security.
Mr Devereux said using a fuel that was 85 percent renewable had the potential to reduce a vehicle’s “well to wheel” CO2 emissions by up to 40 percent.
One of Flex Ethanol Australia’s first projects will be to conduct a trial at Coskata’s US facility to analyse the suitability of Australian-specific household waste for the production of ethanol.
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