Narrogin Bioenergy Plant
Demonstration of Integrated
Wood Processing

Western Australia's wheatbelt town of Narrogin is home to an innovative project - The Integrated Wood Processing (IWP) Demonstration Plant - that addresses Global Warming and Farmland Salinity; two of Australia's most pressing environmental concerns.

Western Power is building the IWP plant that will generate renewable electricity and produce activated carbon and eucalyptus oil from locally planted mallees. Producing three products at the one plant will ensure commercially competitive operation. The plant will generate enough renewable energy for 1,000 homes.

Why Mallees?

Mallees have been the bane of farmers since colonisation because of their stubborn habit of re-sprouting after attempted removal. Mallees store food and energy in their underground lignotuber, the well known mallee-root, which allows them to re-grow when the above-ground branches are removed, a natural adaptation to frequent fires.

This re-spouting ability will be exploited to harvest branches every second year indefinitely without replanting. This is known as "coppicing". All the while, the deep mallee roots are soaking up the ground water to keep the rising salt at bay. Mallees are now the farmers' ally in combating salinity that threatens 30% of the wheatbelt.

Two million mallee trees need to be planted by local farmers to support the IWP demonstration plant.

What does the IWP plant do?

The plant uses modern fluidised bed technology developed by CSIRO, to convert the wood into charcoal and then to "activate" the charcoal to convert it to activated carbon. Activated carbon is used in air and liquid purification. Oil will be distilled from the leaves and the spent leaves will be "gasified" to produce fuel for the boiler. Heat from both processes will be used to generate electricity.