Australian-Grown · CI Engine Compatible · Net Zero Carbon

A domestic fuel solution for Australia's hard-to-abate industries.

Green Biofuels Australia produces PD100™ — a pure plant oil fuel from Pongamia pinnata trees grown on Australian marginal land. Designed for compression ignition engines, verified carbon-neutral, and supplied domestically without fossil processing inputs.

Understand the Fuel Mining Applications The Green Bio-Hub
⚠️
National Security Alert — March 2026
Australia holds just 33 days of diesel. ~50% of supply transits the Strait of Hormuz. The US–Iran conflict has made sovereign fuel production a national security imperative.
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~37 MJ/kg
Calorific Value
30–36 cSt
Viscosity @ 40°C (DIN)
>101°C
Flash Point (DIN 51605)
Non-Food
Feedstock
Net Zero
Lifecycle Carbon
~Diesel Price
Target Price Point
The Operating Context

Hard-to-abate sectors need a practical fuel pathway.

Australia's heavy industry — mining, freight, remote power generation — consumes billions of litres of mineral diesel each year. These sectors face tightening Safeguard Mechanism obligations but have limited near-term options for fuel switching.

The most-discussed alternatives each carry constraints that prevent immediate, large-scale adoption:

  • ⚡
    Battery-electric haul trucks — not yet commercially available at 300+ tonne payload class at scale
  • 💧
    Hydrogen — requires infrastructure that does not exist at remote Australian mine sites
  • 🌍
    Imported HVO / renewable diesel — genuine drop-in but ~$0.50/L premium over mineral diesel, dependent on offshore supply chains
  • ⚗️
    FAME biodiesel — limited domestic availability, typically more costly than diesel, OEM warranty typically capped at B20

Where PD100™ fits

PD100™ is produced from Pongamia pinnata oil using a low-capital processing chain — no transesterification, no fossil methanol inputs. Designed for the Australian CI engine market, with a target commercial price point comparable to mineral diesel.

Viscosity management is required for modern common-rail engines — pre-heating is the established countermeasure. The modifications needed are well-understood and within the scope of routine fleet engineering.

  • ✓No new engines required — existing CI fleet compatible
  • ✓Target price: comparable to mineral diesel at commercial scale
  • ✓Domestically produced — no offshore supply exposure
  • ✓Net zero lifecycle carbon — biogenic CO₂ cycle
  • ✓Plantation generates ACCU credits as trees grow
  • ✓Non-food crop on marginal land — no food-vs-fuel conflict
Key Properties

What makes PD100™ relevant to the Australian context.

Three characteristics distinguish Pongamia PPO from other biofuel options currently available in Australia.

01

Meets Safeguard Mechanism requirements

Biogenic CO₂ from PD100™ combustion does not count against fossil Scope 1 totals under NGER reporting. The associated plantation simultaneously generates ACCU sequestration credits — two abatement levers from one supply chain.

Scope 1 Reduction
02

Works in existing CI engine fleets

No fleet replacement required. Pre-heating for CRDI engines is the key engineering step. Modifications are modest, well-documented, and compatible with routine fleet maintenance programmes. IDI engines require no modification at all.

CI Engine Compatible
03

Fully domestic, traceable supply chain

Grown on Australian marginal land. Processed in Australia. Delivered in Australia. No exposure to international commodity markets or offshore refining costs. Consistent with Guarantee of Origin Scheme traceability requirements.

Australian Produced
Young Pongamia plantation approaching first seed harvest

Young Pongamia plantation — approaching first seed harvest. Trees at approximately 3–4 years old, showing the canopy development that precedes first flowering and seed pod production. At this stage the plantation is already generating ACCU sequestration credits while the fuel production capacity builds.

The Feedstock

Pongamia pinnata — agronomically significant for Australian conditions.

A leguminous tree native to northern Australia with a suite of characteristics that make it uniquely suited to bioenergy production on marginal land. The tree fixes atmospheric nitrogen through root symbiosis, requires no synthetic fertiliser after establishment, and tolerates the saline, drought-stressed soils common across northern Queensland and the NT.

The oil-bearing seed pods contain karanjin and pongamol — bitter compounds that render the oil completely unfit for human consumption. There is no food-vs-fuel competition in the Pongamia supply chain.

Plantation timeline: ACCU credits begin accumulating from Year 1. First seed harvest typically at Year 3–4. Full commercial oil yield (1,000–2,500 L/ha/yr) from Year 7–10. Productive life: 40+ years.
The Green Bio-Hub Concept

A regional hub model for integrated bioenergy production.

Green Biofuels Australia is developing the Green Bio-Hub — a regionally integrated production facility that co-locates Pongamia plantation management, oil extraction, fuel processing, carbon monitoring, and community employment within a single geographic catchment.

The Bio-Hub model maximises value capture at the regional level rather than extracting raw material for processing elsewhere. Each hub serves as the anchor for a surrounding plantation catchment, with fuel distribution extending to mining operations, freight routes, and remote communities within supply range.

🌿 Feedstock Processing

Seed pod intake, mechanical pressing, oil extraction and degumming on-site

⚗️ Fuel Production

PD100™ refining, quality testing, bulk fuel storage for regional distribution

📊 Carbon Monitoring

Plantation carbon measurement, ACCU project management and CER reporting

👥 Community Employment

Harvest crews, processing operators, logistics and maintenance — local jobs

🔬 Research Node

Data collection for university trials, agronomy research and yield monitoring

👷 Indigenous Employment

Local employment priority for Indigenous workers in harvest, processing and operations roles

Pongamia plantation nursery
Pongamia seed pods
The Circular Bio-Economy

A closed-loop carbon cycle — not a linear fossil one.

The fundamental distinction between mineral diesel and PD100™ is the carbon cycle. Mineral diesel releases carbon sequestered geologically for millions of years. PD100™ operates within the contemporary biological carbon cycle — CO₂ absorbed by the growing tree is returned to the atmosphere on combustion, where it began. Net addition to the atmosphere: zero.

  • 1

    Photosynthesis sequesters CO₂

    Pongamia trees draw atmospheric CO₂ into biomass — generating ACCU credits and building soil organic matter

  • 2

    Seed oil is extracted as fuel

    Annual seed pod harvest yields oil refined into PD100™ — the tree continues growing and sequestering carbon

  • 3

    Combustion returns biogenic CO₂

    The CO₂ released on combustion is the same carbon the tree removed — no net fossil addition to the atmosphere

  • 4

    Residues return value to the land

    Press cake from oil extraction is a protein-rich soil amendment; nitrogen fixation continuously improves land fertility

Proven in Public

Vegetable oil in diesel engines — what television got right.

Long before PD100™, television programmes independently demonstrated that unmodified compression ignition engines can run on straight vegetable oil. These aren't marketing stunts — they are practical demonstrations of the underlying chemistry that Rudolf Diesel himself understood when he designed the original diesel engine to run on peanut oil in 1900.

A note on context: Both programmes used conventional cooking oil — unfiltered, unrefined, and with no quality control whatsoever. PD100™ is an entirely different product. Pongamia oil is ultra-filtered, degummed, and processed to meet DIN 51605 fuel-grade specifications — far cleaner than any cooking oil. It contains less than 3 mg/kg phosphorus, less than 24 mg/kg particulates, and has an acid number below 2.0 mg KOH/g. The point these demonstrations make is not "use any vegetable oil" — it is that compression ignition engines have an inherent, designed-in compatibility with plant oils. PD100™ takes that demonstrated principle and applies rigorous fuel-grade quality standards to it.
MythBusters — Adam Hyneman pouring vegetable oil into a Mercedes diesel engine at the Port of Los Angeles
Discovery Channel
MythBusters — Discovery Channel

Can a diesel engine run on straight cooking oil?

Adam Hyneman and the MythBusters team fill a Mercedes diesel with used fryer oil — straight from a deep fryer, completely unprocessed and unfiltered — at the Port of Los Angeles. The engine runs. Power output reaches approximately 90% of the diesel baseline. The myth is confirmed. PD100™ Pongamia oil is ultra-filtered and fuel-grade — if raw fryer oil can run a diesel engine, refined PPO meeting DIN 51605 does it considerably better.

Watch on YouTube →
Top Gear — Jeremy Clarkson, James May and Richard Hammond — vegetable oil Volvo diesel
BBC · Top Gear
Top Gear — BBC

Vegetable oil for your Volvo diesel — cheap as chips.

The Top Gear team run a Volvo diesel on standard supermarket cooking oil — no processing, no filtration, no quality testing. The Volvo runs normally. The episode notes that Rudolf Diesel designed his original engine specifically to run on vegetable oil. PD100™ Pongamia oil is a quantum step above supermarket cooking oil — ultra-filtered, degummed, and quality-tested to DIN 51605 fuel standard before it goes near an engine.

Watch on YouTube →
Research Foundation

Evidence-based development — not marketing claims.

GBA's commercial programme is underpinned by active university trials in Queensland and independently verified field measurement. We publish what we find — including uncertainty where it exists.

View Research Programme
Active
University Engine Trials (QLD)
Awarded
Research Grant Oct 2025
6–10 t
CO₂/ha/yr Sequestration Est.
DIN 51605
PPO Fuel Quality Standard
Latest

News & Insights

Policy developments, research milestones, and technical analysis relevant to Pongamia biofuel development in Australia.

Mining operations
2 October 2025

Aussie Government Commits $1.1bn to Low Carbon Liquid Fuels

The Cleaner Fuels Program opens the largest domestic biofuel funding window in Australian history.

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Young Pongamia plantation
2 October 2025

Research Grant Awarded — QLD Coal Mine Pre-Implementation Study

GBA awarded grant for the first study assessing large-scale Pongamia development on rehabilitated coal mine land in central QLD.

Read More →
Pongamia seed pods
New Article

The Safeguard Mechanism and Your Haul Fleet — What the Numbers Show

A data-focused analysis of Scope 1 fuel abatement options for mining operations under current and projected baselines.

Read More →

Interested in trial participation or research collaboration?

GBA is currently in active discussions with mining operators, universities, land managers, and government agencies. All enquiries are treated in confidence.

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