[Peakoil] Turns out Manildra ethanol uses more wheat than supposed

[Alex Pollard]

Green fuel fails to meet emissions standards
James Robertson, Jessica Wright
January 17, 2012

http://www.smh.com.au/environment/energy-smart/20120116-1q39q.html

THE NSW government's plan to ban regular unleaded fuel has been thrown
into doubt by the revelation that the state's only ethanol producer,
Manildra, has failed the government's clean fuel test, with its ethanol
producing more greenhouse gas emissions than previously thought.

New modelling by the Productivity Commission has shown the ethanol
produced by the Manildra Group is only 42 per cent more efficient than
unleaded petrol, falling short of the target set by the government
regulator, Office of Biofuels, which says ethanol should have 50 per
cent lower greenhouse gas emissions than fossil fuels.

Manildra maintains its ethanol is produced from waste products and
therefore virtually emissions-free, a line supported by the previous NSW
Labor government which originally legislated to replace unleaded fuel
with ethanol blended fuel.

But evidence has emerged to suggest Manildra's production of ethanol has
increasingly relied on the use of food products grown by the company,
which the Productivity Commission says accounts for the growth in
emissions.

According to the NSW Supreme Court, between 2006 and 2009, while the
amount of flour Manildra manufactured for export fell 50 per cent, the
amount it put into ethanol increased by 80 per cent.

The Department of Planning approved Manildra's 2008 application to more
than double the capacity of its ethanol plant at Nowra on the basis of
an environmental assessment that its ethanol was 65 per cent waste.

But the report was based on figures provided by Manildra. The
consultants, GHD, who wrote the document, stated it ''[did] not
represent, warrant or guarantee the assessment''.

The Office of Biofuels said Manildra told it 80 per cent of its ethanol
was made from waste last year but admitted that Manildra's ethanol has
never been independently audited.

The new figures from the Productivity Commission contradict Manildra's
estimates, which were largely relied on in the former government's
decision-making process to phase out regular unleaded petrol.