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Australian Renewable Fuels Limited is an Australian company currently developing two biodiesel plants, one in Adelaide, South Australia, and another in Picton, Western Australia.
The development of commercial scale renewable fuels production plants marks an exciting new stage in the growth of use of alternative fuels in Australia
ARF Limited was founded by parent company Amadeus Energy Limited in May 2001.
ARF Limited's vision is to become the pre-eminent Australian biodiesel producer by managing a planned roll-out of biodiesel plants within Australia. The Company's expansion program includes the establishment of biodiesel plants overseas.
The technology to be used in its plants is the proven Energea process, currently operating in Austria. ARF has an exclusivity agreement with Energea for the use of the technology in the Australian region, including manufacturing rights.
ARF Facilities
Construction of the first biodiesel plant Adelaide, SA is now complete. It will produce 44.5 million litres of biodiesel a year using low-grade tallow. By-products will include 4,000 tonnes of raw glycerine and 1,200 tonnes per annum of sulphate of potash fertiliser in paste form.
Construction of a second plant in Picton, WA is also well underway. It also will produce 44.4 million litres of biodiesel per annum.
Biodiesel is in commercial production in countries world-wide because of its low emission levels and other environmental benefits. World production of biodiesel is about three billion litres per annum.
Plant construction
ARF Limited selected Leighton to be project manager for its Adelaide and Picton plants. Leighton is one of Australia's leading construction contractors and infrastructure developers and is listed on the ASX. Leighton has responsibility for the delivery of the completed project in all areas except the process performance warranties provided by Energea.
Leighton is managing the overseas manufacture, onsite erection, no-load testing and procurement of acceptable documentation of the process units, as well as design, construction and documentation of the balance of the project facilities and coordination of the commissioning of each project.
Austrian company Energea is the technology provider and is responsible for the supply, delivery and installation of plants on the sites in accordance with its performance guarantees, in conformity with the technical specifications, and under Leighton's supervision.
The Adelaide plant
The Adelaide plant is on land formerly owned by the South Australian Government's Land Management Corporation. It is within the geographic centre of Adelaide's fuel supply infrastructure and fat importing and exporting facilities at Largs Bay near Port Adelaide. The site has connections to the local harbour, road and rail networks and existing service connections with water, gas, electricity and telephone utilities. The facilities provide access to ship loading facilities for the export of biodiesel and importing of fat. Connection to Pacific Terminals (Gardner Smith) will be via a pipeline to transfer fat and biodiesel.
The Picton plant
The Picton plant is on land provided by the West Australian Government through a conditional grant. The site comprises 10 hectares of industrial land about five kilometres from the inner harbour at Bunbury. Under the land purchase and grant agreements, the State of Western Australia provided ARF Limited with an interest-free loan. This will convert to a grant over the five years to 2009, provided ARF establishes a biodiesel plant that will directly employ 10 full-time employees and will create indirect employment for 30 people.
Logistical services will be developed for the storage of feedstock (fat or tallow) and finished goods at the port and the piping delivery services related to these storage facilities. The Bunbury Port Authority has indicated its interest in providing the port storage facilities.
Supply of raw material
ARF Limited has an exclusive five-year feedstock (fat or tallow) supply agreement with Gardner Smith, Australia's market leader for the delivery and storage of fats.
The agreement encompass South Australia and Western Australia. For each plant, Gardner Smith has agreed to provide feedstock up to the plant design capacity per month on a cost-plus basis. Gardner Smith has a global network of offices spanning Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, China and South Africa.
This arrangement gives ARF Limited access to not only domestic fat supplies but also regional supplies from New Zealand, Indonesia, Malaysia and some South American countries.
Alternative sources of raw material
Whilst tallow remains the current feedstock of choice, ARF Limited is investigating new sources of supply. It is funding research in South Australia through the South Australian Research and Development Institute (SARDI) to investigate the potential of an oilseed crop specifically for biodiesel production. ARF wants national commercial exploitation rights to any intellectual property that results from this research. Early results have been encouraging. ARF has a research and development expenditure policy that dedicates half a cent from the sales proceeds on each litre of biodiesel to further research work. This policy results in a committed research and development budget at full production from both plants of approximately $0.45 million per year.
Biodiesel sales
ARF Limited intends to sell biodiesel into both the established European market and the emerging Australian market.
ARF Limited has an exclusive five-year contract with Godiver, a European trading house, giving ARF the option to sell up to 120,000 tonnes per annum of biodiesel (about 135 million litres).
The Godiver contract will provide ARF with some security of sales from commencement of production. However, once production has commenced, ARF Limited plans to quickly develop the Australian biodiesel market. Additionally, ARF Limited is negotiating with retail fuel distributors, train operators, truck fleet operators, the marine industry and local government both in South Australia and Western Australia. It is also holding sales discussions with major oil companies regarding biodiesel as a lubricity agent and as a blend.
Quality control
ARF Limited is strongly committed to the highest standards of quality control. It uses the services of one of the world's most respected petroleum and related products quality assurance companies . This German company is accredited for its expertise in the analysis of diesel fuels, heating oil, biodiesel and vegetable oil fats and is well known among European motor fuel producers, automobile manufacturers and allied organisations. ASG has an established presence in all ARF manufacturing facilities. All biodiesel supplied by ARF Limited complies with the Austrian Biofuel Standard, acknowledged internationally as the local benchmark for quality.

Photo shows ARF Picton Plant - Western Australia
Additional plant Adelaide, South Australia
| The Board of ARF Limited comprises six directors: | |
| Alan Mulgrew | Non-Executive Chairman |
| Robert Scott | Non-Executive Deputy Chairman |
| Max Ger | Finance Director (also Company Secretary) |
| Glyn Denison | Non-Executive Director |
| Graham Scott | Non-Executive Director |
| Geoff Towner | Non-Executive Director |
| The Senior Management of ARF is comprised of: | |
| John Lillywhite | Chief Executive Officer, ARF Ltd. (Australia) |
| Ross Garrity | Chief Executive Officer, ARF Inc. (USA) |
Company AddressSuite 1B, Level 5South Shore Piazza85 South Perth Esplanade
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Additional Address/Key ContactGeneral communications National Sales and Marketing Manager Largs Bay, South Australia. Phone: 0438 049 093 Email: tking@arfuels.com.au |