Licella

Licella is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ignite Energy Resources, a Melbourne-based company aiming to commercialisie brown coal to oil projects. According to the Australian Securities and Investment Commission the company applied for registration as an unlisted company on February 28, 2008.

Demonstration plant
Ignite Energy Resources established the Ignite Energy 'CAT-HTR' Demonstration Plant near Gosford in 2009 or earlier. In December 2011 the federal Minister for Resources and Energy, Martin Ferguson "opened" what his media release stated was the "new biofuels commercial demonstration facility" at the site. At the opening, to which the media were invited, Ferguson stated that the plant, which was owned by Ignite Energy subsidiary Licella, "has been supported through a $2.3 million grant from the Australian Government’s Second Generation Biofuels Research and Development (Gen 2) Program." Ferguson also announced that Ignite and Licella had reached an agreement "to locate a commercial demonstration plant at Yallourn Power Station, in the Latrobe Valley, scheduled for mid 2012." The trial, Ferguson said in a media release, "the prospect of this venture demonstrates the opportunities that may be available to utilise the Latrobe Valley's brown coal resource in a way that reduces greenhouse gas emissions and could provide much needed jobs to the local community."

Ferguson also announced that in a second agreement, Licella and Norkse Skog Australasia formed a joint venture company, Licella Fibre Fuels "to transform multiple biomass feedstocks, including forestry residues, agricultural waste and energy crops into bio-crude oil." Ferguson's media release also stated that Licella had entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with Virgin Australia to "support the commercialisation of a process to convert biomass into sustainable aviation fuel. Under the MoU, Virgin Australia and Licella will explore the potential of the Licella technology to produce aviation fuel, with the aim of supporting its certification and reaching a commercial off-take agreement."

At the same time Ignite stated that "an initial commercial-scale plant could see low-ranked brown coal transformed into annual production of 600,000 tonnes of high-grade, much cleaner burning coal for use in Victoria‟s power industry, the steel industry and other coal consumers."

More federal funds for Ignite
In February 2013 the federal minister for Minister for Resources and Energy, the Martin Ferguson, announced that a further $5.4 million had been granted to Licella Pty Ltd to "assess the feasibility of constructing its first pre-commercial biofuel plant". The funding originated from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency’s (ARENA) Advanced Biofuels Investment Readiness Program.

Ferguson stated that Licella would "use the $5.4 million of ARENA funding to undertake a $8.2 million feasibility study into the construction of its first pre-commercial biofuels plant. If constructed, it is estimated that the plant could produce 125,000 barrels of Bio-Crude per annum, which could be used as a drop in fuel for the aviation industry."

Timeline

 * February 28, 2008: Licella applies to the Australian Securities and Investment Commission for registration as an unlisted company.


 * Approximately 2009: Ignite Energy 'CAT-HTR' Demonstration Plant built near Gosford.


 * December 14, 2011: federal Minister for Resources and Energy, Martin Ferguson "opened" a "new biofuels commercial demonstration facility" at Ignite's Gosford site. The plant was built with a $2.3 million grant from the federal government;


 * February 28, 2013: federal Minister for Resources and Energy, Martin Ferguson announced a $5.4 million grant to Licella.

Related SourceWatch articles

 * Researching coal in Victoria
 * Victoria and coal


 * Australia and coal
 * Carbon Capture and Storage
 * Carbon Capture and Storage in Australia
 * New South Wales and coal
 * Queensland and coal

External resources

 * Ignite Energy Resources, "Minister inspects ground breaking coal emissions abatement technology ", Media Release, December 14, 2011.
 * Martin Ferguson, "Biofuels Plant Offers Cleaner Energy Options", Media Release, December 14, 2011.