Caltex’s magazine for employees, franchisees & resellers
Issue 45 Oct – Nov 08
The truth about biofuels and why customers want them
Sugar cane plants — one source of ethanol for Caltex
The truth about biofuels and why customers want them
These fuels have an important role to play in Australia’s energy supply security and in helping to reduce greenhouse emissions into the future. If properly developed, biofuels need not adversely impact food supplies and have undeniable environmental benefits
Conquering crisis
When adversity strikes, a company like Caltex needs people with level heads and determination who can put things right. A crisis can even be an opportunity to get ahead of the competition if you manage it properly, as these examples show.
Kurnell skills adding dollars
They’ll be the first to admit their work isn’t always appealing. It involves handling massive machines and tasks of almost unimaginable complexity. Most non-refining people understand little or nothing about what Caltex’s refinery personnel do.
New vapour unit cleans air
Cleaner air and reduced safety risks are among benefits to be gained from the recent installation of a vapour recovery unit (VRU) at Caltex’s Birkenhead terminal in Adelaide.
Recognising a fine career
Alex Strang, Caltex General Manager Supply & Distribution, was winner of the Fluor award for leadership in chemical engineering at this year’s Chemeca. The Fluor award is one of a dozen chemical-engineering awards, mostly industry-sponsored, made each year at Chemeca, the annual conference for the profession hosted by the Institution of Chemical Engineers in Australia, Engineers Australia, the Royal Australian Chemical Institute and the Society of Chemical Engineers New Zealand.
From the Managing Director
As we discuss in this issue of The Star, Caltex believes that biofuels have an important role to play in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and in making Australia’s energy supply more secure.
The biofuels used by Caltex have a high level of sustainability. Our ethanol comes from waste from the wheat starch manufacturing process and from molasses, a by-product of sugar refining. Our biodiesel is made mainly from used cooking oil and tallow. These biofuels do not reduce food supplies.
Caltex is committed to the development of biofuel blended fuels to complement our range of conventional automotive fuels. We have backed our belief in them with significant investment over the past five years in terminal and service station conversion and the business has experienced rapid and exciting growth.
Consider these achievements:
- This year Caltex will sell around 750 million litres blended fuels containing 39 million litres of neat (unmixed) biofuels.
- We have rolled out Bio E10 Unleaded petrol blend and/or Bio New Generation Diesel (two per cent biodiesel blend) to 400 Caltex-branded locations. Further expansion is planned.
- To ensure more efficient delivery of E10, Caltex has invested in new, multi-million-dollar ethanol blending facilities in Brisbane and Sydney. These will enable us to supply more E10 to our networks as demand keeps growing.
Perhaps most importantly, our customers are interested in biofuels as a potential option, especially commercial clients, and are telling us so.
In a fast-changing world, Caltex must constantly adapt the fuels it offers. Petroleum-based fuels will continue to meet a major proportion of Australia’s transport needs for many years to come but the race for new fuel and vehicle technologies has begun in earnest.
Until the full potential of these alternatives can be realised, biofuels are an immediate option that offer customers genuine environmental benefits. They can help reduce Australia’s reliance on fossil fuels and fill the gap when conventional crude oil supply starts to fall short of demand.
And with new technologies emerging for “second generation” ethanol made from any plant material containing cellulose or biodiesel made from special-purpose crops grown on marginal land or even algae, there should be even more benefits to be realised in future.
Des King