Farmer planning diesel tree biofuel
http://www.smh.com.au/news/National/Farmer-planning-diesel-tree-biofuel/2006/09/19/1158431695812.html
They say that money doesn't grow on trees, but a Queensland farmer
believes fuel does.
Mike Jubow, a nursery wholesaler from Mackay, has begun importing seed
from Brazil to plant diesel trees.
The tropical trees, which have the botanic name copaifera langsdorfii,
produce a biofuel that can be tapped, filtered and used to power
machinery such as tractors.
It is estimated a one hectare plantation could produce 12,000 litres
of fuel a year - enough to make a small farm fuel self-sufficient.
Mr Jubow, who operates the Nunyara Wholesale Forestry Nursery and has
been in the industry for 14 years, said he had heard about the trees
from a colleague attending a forestry conference.
"I pricked my ears and thought 'This guy is having a go at me' but
when I came home I got onto the net and typed in diesel tree and there
it was," Mr Jubow said.
"I thought 'I've got to get seeds for this thing' and it's taken me
three years to track them down."
He sourced the seed from Brazil and says the first seedlings would be
available in late January.
The recommended method of growing them is to plant 1,000 trees on a
hectare of land, preferably in a tropical area, then test them for
their vigour, growth and yield about three years later, which
ordinarily would lead to culling about half of them.
About four to six years later they would be measured again before
culling them down to between 250 and 350 of the best trees, which
would be inter-bred and harvested for seed.
Mr Jubow said a large mature tree would yield about 40 litres of
diesel a year, which equated to about 12,000 litres per hectare of
trees.
"It becomes astonishingly viable for a farmer to have a piece of his
most productive land to get the tree up and running and then he can be
independent from the fuel companies for the rest of his life," he
said.
They are known to produce fuel for 70 years.
While the fuel cannot be stored for more than a few months it can be
tapped.
But even if it is left too long, it thickens into copaiba oil, which
is used in alternative medicines and fetches around $100 a litre in
the United States.
And at the end of the tree's life, it can be milled to produce a light
brown timber favoured by cabinet makers.
"There's nothing wasted on the tree," Mr Jubow said.
--
Wherever I go it will be well with me, for it was well with me here, not
on account of the place, but of my judgments which I shall carry away
with me, for no one can deprive me of these; on the contrary, they alone
are my property, and cannot be taken away, and to possess them suffices
me wherever I am or whatever I do. -- EPICTETUS
"There are no absolute certainties in this universe. A man must try to
whip order into a yelping pack of probabilities, and uniform success is
impossible." -- Jack Vance
"Civilization is the interval between Ice Ages." -- Will Durant.
"Progress is the increasing control of the environment by life.
--Will Durant
Joseph R. Darancette
daranc@NOSPAMverizon.net
.
|
