There’s more to a humble mallee tree standing on a farm in rural Western Australia than meets the eye. If Colin Stucley, Managing Director of Enecon has his way, the mallee will not only reduce salinity, it will also reduce greenhouses gases, produce activated carbon, generate energy and provide eucalyptus oil from its leaves.

However, when Stucley first founded Enecon with Jim Bland in 1998, mallees were the last thing on their mind. Stucley and Bland were chemical engineers, both with careers in the oil and gas industries spanning 20 years. “We wanted to do something which was more sustainable,” says Stucley. “Something more in line with our beliefs.”

Stucley admits that desire was partially driven by the fact he has kids. “You want to do something that is good for future generations,” he says. “We also saw this as a way we could develop an interesting business and further our own careers in a way we were proud of.”

Stucley and Bland set up Enecon in 1998 at the same time they got the worldwide licence for technology developed by CSIRO Forestry and Forest Products. The technology is a process that uses wood to produce energy, charcoal and activated carbon.

“Activated carbon acts as an effective sponge for removing contamination from liquids and gases,” says Stucley. “When you make charcoal and activated carbon, a lot of energy is released at the same time and we’re looking at recovering that energy instead of wasting it.”

Stucley spent several months travelling around the country looking for opportunities to put the technology into place. However, it wasn’t until he met Dr Syd Shea, then Executive Director of Western Australia’s Department of Conservation and Land Management (CALM) that pieces started to fall into place.“

Syd had recognised the importance of getting treesback into the farming landscape to avoid salinity problems in Western Australia,” says Stucley. “However, he knew that up front costs were a major disincentive to large scale plantings, in spite of the long term environmental benefits.”

Turning mallees into multiple products

Enecon proposed the concept of Integrated Tree Processing (ITP) where mallees provide multiple products for local and overseas markets: the wood can be harvested to produce activated carbon and energy, and the leaves supply eucalyptus oil and energy. The farmers receive commercial returns for the trees in the short term as well as longer term environmental benefits: their plantings combat salinity, and the trees sequester carbon dioxide. Furthermore, the mallees are coppicing trees, which means shoots regrow from the stumps after harvest – and so they can be harvested sustainably every two to three years.

Initially, feasibility studies, trials and laboratory experiments were undertaken to test the viability of this concept. Funding was then arranged for a demonstration plant, led by Western Power Corporation, the Australian Greenhouse Office and AusIndustry. The plant was completed in 2005 and operating trials were undertaken up to the middle of 2006.

Engaging an army of stakeholders

While the ITP concept has made significant progress, it’s still early days in terms of making it a commercial success. Although the demonstration plant can prove the technology, the supply of mallees to each new processing plant will require hundreds of stakeholders – farmers who have to be convinced they are planting for a viable industry. “This is the development of a new rural industry,” says Stucley. “There is a chicken and egg scenario: you can build the plant when you know there are trees available. But many farmers cannot justify planting the trees until they know a plant will be nearby.

” To operate cost-effectively, trees need to be within an economic transport distance of a plant. Nevertheless, more than 1,000 farmers in the Western Australian wheatbelt have been planting mallees – largely for the environmental benefits, but also on the expectation that commercial opportunities will be developed.

Stucley stresses that ITP is not the “sole solution” for new tree planting and associated industries. “The opportunity, and the need for new tree crops in Australian agricultural regions is far greater than any one industry can catalyse,” he says. For this reason, Enecon also investigates other new technologies for sustainable energy from wood. It has recently set up an off-shoot company to develop projects based on commercial pyrolysis technology from North America, which also uses wood to produce renewable energy and sustainable chemicals. “This pyrolysis technology produces renewable oil which can be used immediately for power generation and heating and eventually in engines as well. There are huge opportunities if this low cost pyrolysis oil can tap the market for transport fuel,” says Stucley.

While it’s a been a long road to develop the ITP demonstration plant, Enecon generates revenue from consulting and other engineering projects related to renewable energy to continue profitably. “We could make a lot more money going back into oil and gas,” says Stucley. “But it wouldn’t be half the fun.”

www.enecon.com.au