Ampol (ASX:ALD) is set to develop renewable diesel at its Lytton Refinery in Queensland, following the Queensland Government’s investment of $25 million.
The funding partnership will support the modification of Ampol’s existing diesel hydrotreater to co-process conventional diesel, with biogenic feedstocks such as waste and plant oils and animal fats, to produce renewable fuel that can be used in any existing diesel engine.
Upon completion, the project will enable the first sustainable domestic production of second-generation low-carbon liquid fuels in Australia.
The Lytton Refinery project will initially be capable of producing up to 20 million litres of renewable diesel per year from 2028, processing between 15 and 20 kilotons of feedstock annually.
Construction is expected to begin by mid-2027, creating 46 new jobs, including 40 construction and six operations roles.
The investment also presents a pathway to unlock future project stages that could produce up to 750 million litres of sustainable aviation fuel and renewable diesel by the early 2030s.
Ampol’s project also includes construction of a truck handling gantry, heated and insulated storage tanks with mixing and blending capacity, a secondary tank containment system, and system upgrades to process the feedstock.
Lytton received a prescribed project state, allowing the Coordinator-General to streamline approvals.
Liquid gold
The Queensland Government’s investment is one of the ways it is restoring the state’s ability to drill, refine, and store fuel locally.
Together with progressing oil production from the Taroom Trough, the state government is delivering short-, medium-, and long-term measures to lock in fuel security for Queensland.
Lytton is also the first project to be funded under the state government’s flagship $180.6 million Sovereign Industry Development Fund.
Premier David Crisafulli says the investment forms part of the government’s fuel security plan.
“These projects are important to ensure we are never again left at the mercy of foreign nations, at the end of a global supply chain,” Crisafulli says.
Deputy Premier and Minister for State Development Jarrod Bleijie says long before the national fuel crisis, the state government had already identified the biofuels sector as a credible, viable, and important industry to invest in.
“Within a few short years, Queensland will be producing hundreds of millions of litres of liquid gold because the right investments were made, and the right partnerships were forged,” Bleijie says.
Write to Aaliyah Rogan at Mining.com.au
Images: Ampol
