The Cobar Metchar Project

• The Problem —
Invasive Native Scrub

Wundowie sources its biomass from waste streams and one such significant source of waste biomass is Invasive Native Scrub (“INS”) on the Cobar Peneplain of NSW.

The Cobar Peneplain is a bioregion of NSW located in the centre of the state to the West of the Great Dividing Range which was settled in the 1850s and described at that time as “an open woodland with a grassy understorey”. Unfortunately, European settlement brought an end to traditional ‘fire stick farming’ methods of the local aboriginal people and also began a campaign of systematic over grazing of the native pastures.

The impact of a century of these land management practices has been a proliferation of woody vegetation in an area that has outcompeted the native perennial grasses for light, water and nutrients. The result is a landscape choked out by 1-2 dominant species reducing habitat diversity and leaving bare, crusted soils that are prone to erosion.

Image of: locked cypress pine.

Above: locked cypress pine. Source: NSW LLS.

The NSW Government has been supporting local land owners in managing INS by providing guidance on how to best restore the landscape to its pre-European settlement state of a mosaic of native pastures with open woodlands and denser wooded areas.

According to CSIRO [1], removal of INS to create open scrub has shown to increase biodiversity amongst bird populations vs INS areas whilst NSW LLS notes that removal of INS typically increases pasture productivity by 300% for the 5 years post initial treatment showing that the environmental rehabilitation of the Cobar Peneplain brings significant benefits to land productivity and the stock of natural capital. 

Image of: INS area treated to restore a mosaic environment and perennial pastures.

Above: INS area treated to restore a mosaic environment and perennial pastures. Source: NSW LLS.

Given the nature and scale of the issue, selective removal of INS is not practical or cost effective, as such the typical method of treating INS under the NSW Land Management (Native Vegetation) Code 2018 is to heap the biomass into piles which is subsequently burned in the open air.

Image of: Status quo INS disposal.

Above: Status quo INS disposal. Source: Wundowie Carbon.

While this and other methods can be very effective for environmental rehabilitation, in each case the carbon stock within the INS is returned to the atmosphere as part of the biogenic carbon cycle without any value-added use. Further, there are considerable health and safety issues involved including bush fire risk and particulate matter affecting the local community.

For more information on INS and the NSW government resources on management best practices see the link below.

https://www.lls.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0007/685222/managing-invasive-native-scrub.pdf

[1] The Delicate and Noxious Scrub: CSIRO Studies on Native Tree and Shrub Proliferation in the Semi-Arid Woodlands of Eastern Australia

• The Opportunity —
Waste Biomass to Create Biocarbon

Rather than see this valuable carbon resource burned in the paddock, Wundowie is developing a centrally located production facility that can accept all legally harvested INS biomass to be converted to biocarbon using a series pyrolysis kilns. The biocarbon product will then be bulk loaded onto rail cars using existing rail infrastructure before being carried to domestic and export markets through Port of Newcastle and/or Port Kembla.

The Cobar Metchar Project will have an initial capacity of approximately 80,000 tonnes pa of biocarbon. The supply of waste INS from the ongoing rehabilitation of the Cobar Peneplain is sufficient to support significant further expansion of the Cobar Metchar Project whilst retaining a very long project life.

In addition to providing local landowners with a better alternative to in-paddock burning from a health and safety point of view, the establishment of the Cobar Metchar Project will facilitate lower land management costs to those farmers along with the creation of many local jobs.

• The Technology —
Pyrolysis

The process of converting waste biomass to biocarbon takes place by heating the biomass to 500-700°C in the absence of oxygen in a well understood process called pyrolysis.

Pyrolysis has been used to produce carbon-rich material from woody biomass for centuries, often through rudimentary methods such as clay ovens or covered pits. Modern pyrolysis is undertaken as a self-generating process whereby volatile gases (syngas) are driven off the biomass as it heats and combusted to produce the heat required to continue the pyrolysis process. This means little-to-no external energy is required after start-up.

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