Arabic version: ريو تينتو توقّع اتفاقاً لشراء الكريات الحيوية لمشروع في كوينزلاند
According to ABC News, SuperChar Limited has lodged an application to build a $30 million biochar facility at Boynedale in central Queensland, while Rio Tinto has signed an initial five-year agreement to buy bio pellets from the proposed operation.
Under the agreement, subject to approvals, SuperChar would supply 35,000 tonnes of bana grass bio pellets in 2028. Rio Tinto said it would use the pellets to further assess replacing coal in boilers at its Queensland refineries. Tim McDougall, Rio Tinto’s general manager of bauxite and alumina, said burning that volume would reduce carbon emissions by 90,000 tonnes a year.
Rio Tinto has already found that boilers at its Gladstone refineries can use a blend containing up to 30 per cent bio pellets. The company plans to assess blends of up to 50 per cent under the agreement. SuperChar’s pellets were trialled at the Gladstone refineries in 2024 and 2025.
The proposed Boynedale facility, about 50 kilometres from Gladstone, would make charcoal pellets by heating bana grass at high temperatures with limited oxygen, a process called pyrolysis. Executive chairman Mike Palmer said the plant would also produce 25,000 tonnes of charcoal briquettes annually and could make an animal-feed product. The development still requires Gladstone Regional Council approval.
SuperChar expects the initial processing plant and farming activities to create about 25 jobs. The company is trialling the crop with farmer Paul Whiteman, who planted 12 hectares at his Boynedale property in May. Mr Palmer said the project was well advanced in funding terms but that the company was seeking government support.
