what we Do

About Pongamia Pinnata

• Pongamia pinnata, a legume tree, is a native of Northern Australia
• It’s seed produces up to 40% oil
• Very suitable for biodiesel production,
  
  Australia is well placed for tree cultivation,oil harvests, and associated biofuel biosynthesis and merchandising due to:-

• - climate
• - geography
• - land ownership
• - Fast growing: initial cropping year 5 to    50+
• - Able to be mechanically harvested
• - Salt and drought tolerant
• - Suitable for mine rehabilitation
• - Suitable for utilisation of human waste

Pongamia as Potential Feedstock for Bio-diesel & Mine rehabilitation

• Transport fuel in diesel cars
• Transport fuel in trucks and heavy  vehicles particularly the mining industry
• Marine diesel
• Jet fuel
• Off – grid power stations
• Standby generators  and mining equipment

Why pongamia

• Non-invasive species
• Survive in Temperature of 0 deg C to 55 deg C
• Pongamia grows into a large tree and has a 10 metre taproot, thus creating a substantial carbon sink.
• Pongamia is resistant to a wide range of adverse climatic conditions including drought, light frost, water logging, moisture stress and salinity
• Fixes 5-6 tons of Carbon per year per acre
• Fixes Nitrogen in the soil/ climate change department presently qualifying the tree for the carbon positive list
• Pongamia crude oil  & biodiesel can be used to create community/village level and industry based grid based energy for remote areas

NBDA trail sites

Projects , Planting Research and Development

• University of Queensland, Australia
• CSIRO – Australia
• Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India
• Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture (CRIDA), India
• University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka
• Tropical Forest Research Institute, India

Major Milestones

• R&D scale plantation of Pongamia in collaboration with Origin Energy in central Queensland, and Lendlease in SEQ.
• Sale and planting of Pongamia on major sites with Queensland Government Water Authority -Urban Utilities.
• Successful operation of a mobile biodiesel production unit in commercial quantities.
• Successful lobbying of Queensland Govt. for the legislation of a biofuel mandate.