Australia’s first synthetic fuels facility, the $5 million Synfuel and Catalysis Research Facility (Syncat), has been launched in Perth. The facility is a public private partnership housed at the Australian Resources Research Centre in Western Australia's Technology Park.

 

The Syncat facility is part of the CSIRO’s Gas Processing and Conversion research program, which is looking for ways to make synthetic fuel from non-oil or non-conventional feedstocks. It will produce synfuels from a range of feedstocks including natural gas, coal, hydrogen and biomass.  It can run by itself for months at a time and the two reactor rigs can test at temperatures of up to 450 degrees.

 

SynCat will build on existing partnerships with major industry partners and create a research environment to further develop and advance renewable energy technologies.

 

Innovation Minister, Senator Kim Carr, said the Government’s action to price carbon will create greater market opportunities for lower emissions fuels and the work undertaken at SynCat could deliver the technological solutions needed to capitalise on this potential.

 

He said the CSIRO’s research, including the work to be undertaken at SynCat fits with the Government’s broader strategy to examine barriers to the development and uptake of alternative transport fuels in partnership with industry as we develop the Alternative Transport Fuels Strategy.

 

Further information on the SynCat facility is available at www.csiro.au/places/SynCat