Vast potential for the production of advanced biofuels in Australia
TUM.PtX News |

In order to reduce energy consumption and mitigate climate change, the transition from fossil fuels to sustainable alternatives is crucial. Biomass-to-liquid (BtL) and power-to-liquid (PtL) as well as their combinations (eBtL and PBtL) are promising pathways for large-scale sustainable fuel production. Site selection for such production facilities is crucial for determining production capacity, supply chain assessment, economic viability and other local effects.
This study applies the TUM CES-GIS-SAFAHP methodology to assess the suitability of sites for fuel production in Australia. Considering selected suitability and exclusion criteria such as biomass and renewable energy potential, proximity to freshwater, competing land use and other infrastructure data, pairwise comparisons and fuzzy normalization are used to prioritize and standardize criteria. The resulting suitability maps enable the identification of the most promising sites for the production of BtL, PtL or e-/PBtL fuels in Australia.
A site allocation analysis, which uses road networks and biomass potential to quantify biomass transportation distance, is used to select the most suitable locations for BtL and e-/PBtL plants. All 20 optimal BtL plants identified could potentially produce about 1500 million liters of sustainable fuel per year at a gasifier size of 130-465 MWth. With the addition of renewable electricity (e-/PBtL), the production potential could be increased to almost 4500 million liters per year or a share of more than 50% of Australia's annual aviation fuel consumption.
Contact: Marcel Dossow, Sebastian Fendt
We would like to thank the Federal Ministry of Education and Research for funding the “REDEFINE H2E” project (01DD21005). The authors would also like to thank the TUM.Hydrogen and PtX.