Fuelling cars from household waste

Flex Ethanol Australia is a company that will be formed with the support of GM Holden to bring a waste-to-ethanol plant a step closer in Australia.

The plant, which is earmarked for Victoria, would be capable of turning up to a million tonnes of household rubbish and building waste into more than 200 million litres of ethanol a year.

The ethanol produced by the plant would be used in a range of ethanol-blend fuels, including the alternative fuel known commonly as E85, which contains a mixture of up to 85% ethanol and 15% regular petrol. The fuel is sold at Caltex service stations as Bio E-Flex and can be used to power vehicles such as the flex-fuel vehicles in Holden’s recently launched VE Series II Commodore range.

Mike Devereux, Holden Chairman and Managing Director, said the launch of the first Australian-made cars capable of running on high-blend ethanol fuel, as well as Holden’s involvement in the second-generation ethanol plant, demonstrated the company’s commitment to sustainable motoring through the development of renewable fuels that reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve energy security.

“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% and make a major contribution to sustainable motoring and greenhouse gas reduction,” Devereux said.

Devereux said one of the first projects undertaken by Flex Ethanol Australia would be a comprehensive trial at Coskata’s facility in the US, to test the suitability of Australian-specific household waste for ethanol production.