Flex Ethanol Australia brings waste-to-ethanol plant a step closer

A ground-breaking plant capable of turning household rubbish into ethanol is one step closer with a new company, Flex Ethanol Australia, to be formed.


Making the announcement to Melbourne business leaders at the American Chamber of Commerce today, Holden Chairman and Managing Director Mike Devereux said the new company would be an important step towards building Australia’s first commercially viable second-generation ethanol plant.

“I’m pleased to announce today we’ve reached the next and most important milestone in this project. A new company called Flex Ethanol Australia will be formed, supported by GM, to take the project to the next stage of commercialisation,” Mr Devereux said.

He said the plant, earmarked for Victoria, would be capable of turning up to a million tonnes of household rubbish and building waste into more than 200 million litres of ethanol a year.

The ethanol produced by the plant would be used in a range of ethanol-blend fuels, including the alternative fuel known commonly as E85, which contains a mixture of up to 85 per cent ethanol and 15 per cent regular petrol. The fuel is sold at Caltex service stations as Bio E-Flex and can be used to power vehicles flex-fuel vehicles in Holden’s recently launched VE Series II Commodore range.

Mr Devereux said the launch of the first Australian-made cars capable of running on high-blend ethanol fuel, as well as Holden’s involvement in the second-generation ethanol plant demonstrated the company’s commitment to sustainable motoring through the development of renewable fuels that reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve energy security.

He said both Holden and Caltex were committed to giving drivers the choice to use a fuel that is up to 85 per cent renewable, with the potential to reduce their vehicles’ ‘well to wheel’ CO₂ emissions by up to 40 per cent.

“Our vision is that this technology, and the shift towards ethanol-based fuel, in time, could cut Australia’s dependence on petrol by up to 30 per cent and make a major contribution to sustainable motoring and greenhouse gas reduction,” he said.

Mr Devereux said one of the first projects undertaken by Flex Ethanol Australia would be a comprehensive trial at Coskata’s facility in the US, to test the suitability of Australian-specific household waste, for ethanol production.