On February 2, 2024, Australia’s Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW) ended the submission period for feedback on the country’s renewable diesel specifications.
On November 24, 2023, DCCEEW published “,” seeking feedback from the public.
As of February 2024, Australia’s government has not set any national mandate on biofuel use. Some states mandate ethanol at 6% v/v in New South Wales and 4% v/v in Queensland, and biodiesel at 2% v/v in New South Wales and 0.5% v/v in Queensland (only for bulk purchases). However, the sates' biofuels mandate was not enforced. In 2023, ethanol accounted for only 1.2% of total gasoline sold in New South Wales, significantly lower than the state's ethanol mandate. Moreover, both local and central governments do not grant any subsidies or promote the use of biofuel in the country.
In 2022, more than 50 billion liters of fuel were consumed. Of these, almost 60% were conventional diesel. Diesel in Australia is used in many sectors, including in passenger cars, light-duty commercial vehicles, heavy-duty trucks, agriculture, mining, electricity generation, etc.
However, the shift to net-zero carbon emission drives the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from diesel combustion. Alternative energy sources like electricity and hydrogen are projected to replace diesel in light-duty vehicles (passenger and commercial), trucks and buses. However, heavy-duty long-haul trucks, trains, and non-road equipment, including construction, mining and agriculture, have limited alternative energy options. As such, renewable diesel is likely to play a major part in these sectors.
Diesel sold in Australia must meet the Fuel Quality Standards (Automotive Diesel) Determination 2019 (more details on this specification are available in the SGS INSPIRE fuel specification database). Therefore, any renewable diesel sold in the country must meet this diesel specification. However, renewable diesel typically has a density lower than the minimum limit stated in the diesel specification. Thus, suppliers must apply for approval to sell it within a limited time. This creates an additional administrative process that may hinder continuous renewable diesel supply to consumers.
As such, the government proposed draft specifications for renewable diesel (paraffinic diesel) and renewable diesel blends (see table below).
Selected properties of Australia’s proposed specifications for paraffinic diesel and its blends
Property |
100% paraffinic diesel |
Paraffinic diesel blends |
Cetane number, minimum |
51.0 |
51 (derived cetane number), for blends with 20-99% v/v of paraffinic diesel |
Cetane index, minimum | |
46, for blends with less than 20% v/v of paraffinic diesel |
Flashpoint, °C, minimum |
55.0 |
55.1 |
Sulfur, mg/kg, maximum |
5.0 |
10 |
Fatty acid methyl ester, % v/v, maximum |
5.0 |
5.0 |
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, % m/m, maximum | |
11, (for blends with less than 20% v/v of paraffinic diesel)
8, (for blends with 20-99% v/v of paraffinic diesel) |
Source: Australia's DCCEEW, 2024