The Catalyst Review May 2019 - 8

SPECIAL FEATURE
1st generation ethanol plants are already established with the largest being the 300 M liter per annum Manildra Ethanol in NSW.
Southern Oil has an advanced biofuels plant in Gladstone, Queensland, making 1 million liters of transportation fuel. The Rainbow
Bee Eater Group, based in Somers, Victoria, also makes low cost bioenergy in the form of fuel gas or base load electricity from
agricultural crop and timber waste using its ECHO2 pyrolysis technology. As of 2015, however, only 6% of Australia's energy came
from renewables so there is considerable upside potential provided the government increases support for this sector (Bioenergy
Australia 2015). The growth and diversity of approaches opens up many opportunities for catalyst technology in areas such as
esterification, methanation, purification, hydrogenation and hydrotreating.
Food & Beverage

Australia has a significant presence in the global food & beverage industry and is home to global majors including Nestlé, Associated
British Foods subsidiary George Weston Foods, and Inghams Enterprises (owned by TPG Capital, USA). Meat, dairy, baked goods and
confectionary are all key areas as well as various animal food products. Concern around rising obesity is leading food products to
be reformulated in Australia with less fat and sugar; food technology is a key area of domestic commerce. Deltagen, based East of
Melbourne, produces and distributes enzymes and other food technology products. Australia is also home to high quality probiotics
and a vast range of other health food and beverage manufacturers and suppliers. Probiotics Australia carries out R&D and contract
manufactures probiotic API's in its Queensland facility. Small protein synthesis, biotransformations, oleochemistry and enzyme
catalysis are key for these sectors and this is reflected in university research projects.
Pulp & Paper

Australia has a strong interest in valorizing forestry products within the pulp and paper sector. The digital revolution saw a shift away
from paper use but now the negative image of plastic is precipitating a move to use larger amounts of pulp in packaging. There is
also scope for increased use in textiles and in specialty chemicals. By-products and waste may also be used as sources of biomass.
The desire of the industry to recover from its loss in traditional sectors is leading it to look for innovative technological solutions and
it has yet to fully exploit opportunities in catalysis; for instance, in the development of cleaner bleaching processes and toxic biocide
replacements. Biocatalytic and chemocatalytic approaches are both viable.
Energy, Fuels and Transport

Australia is still almost entirely dependent on fossil fuels with some 85% of electricity generation coming from non-renewable
sources, mainly black or brown coal and natural gas. Wind, solar and hydroelectric power make up the remaining 15%; residential
solar installations are common with over three million solar rooftop and water heaters currently in operation. (Australian
Government 2019).
A burgeoning area is that of low-emissions hydrogen and in 2017, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation
(CSIRO) announced the formation of the Hydrogen Energy Systems dedicated Future Science Platform (FSP) with a view to Australia
becoming a world-leading exporter of low emissions hydrogen. The current focus is on manufacturing so-called "blue hydrogen" from
coal (with CO2 capture and storage - CCS) for export mainly to Japan but also for other key Asian economies including China, South
Korea and Singapore for transportation and other uses. Traditional hydrogen production and purification catalysts will be one area
of potential. Large scale syngas capacity would open up opportunities for downstream products such as ammonia, methanol and
synthetic natural gas (SNG). CCS also requires high efficiency solid adsorbents, ionic liquids and other filtration technologies.
Hydrogen & Power-To-X

Power-To-X is a group of technologies which utilize electricity to convert feedstocks into chemicals, fuels, heat, energy and power. In
contrast to hydrogen derived from coal or natural gas conversion with CCS ("blue hydrogen"), there is also growing interest in the use
of Proton Exchange Membrane Electrolysis (PEMEL) to convert water into "green hydrogen."
There are quite a number of hydrogen projects ongoing in Australia (Barton-Deakin 2018). UK-based ITM Power which has a leading
PEMEL water electrolysis technology for production of hydrogen for transport and other applications and recently opened up a new
Australian subsidiary. It has already deployed four 250-kW units into the mobility and industrial sectors. PEMEL technology utilizes
precious metal electrodes and there are opportunities for further development. It competes with the more mature Alkaline Water
Electrolysis (AWE) which does not require a metal catalyst. Gas pipeline company Jemena has a new 500 kW water electrolyser
trial located in Sydney, which received 50% of the AU$15 million (US$11 million) project funding from the Australian government.
Siemens and Hyundai are also set to establish a 1.25MW hydrogen electrolyser in Canberra in conjunction with a local wind farm.
Metals and Mining

The mining sector is the largest financial sector in Australia, accounting for around 10% of national GDP. It has vast gold
resources ("supermines") as well as copper, lead, silver and diamonds. Key majors include Newmont, Rio Tinto, BHP Billiton and
AngloAmerican. Mines are generally suppliers of metals for catalysis but also customers for solutions which reduce the sector's
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The Catalyst Review											

May 2019



The Catalyst Review May 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of The Catalyst Review May 2019

The Catalyst Review May 2019 - cover
The Catalyst Review May 2019 - contents
The Catalyst Review May 2019 - 1
The Catalyst Review May 2019 - 2
The Catalyst Review May 2019 - 3
The Catalyst Review May 2019 - 4
The Catalyst Review May 2019 - 5
The Catalyst Review May 2019 - 6
The Catalyst Review May 2019 - 7
The Catalyst Review May 2019 - 8
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