1 00:00:00,240 --> 00:00:03,800 Speaker 1: A new biorefinery at the Marsden Point Energy Precinct is 2 00:00:03,800 --> 00:00:06,200 Speaker 1: being proposed. This is up and never knows. Marsden Point 3 00:00:06,480 --> 00:00:10,600 Speaker 1: Channel Infrastructure has announced its enterday conditional project development agreement 4 00:00:10,640 --> 00:00:15,120 Speaker 1: with Sedra Energy. It would utilize some of the oil 5 00:00:15,160 --> 00:00:19,759 Speaker 1: refinery's decommissioned assets, which would be refurbished and reconfigured, and 6 00:00:19,840 --> 00:00:22,400 Speaker 1: it would take up approximately eighteen to twenty hectares of 7 00:00:22,440 --> 00:00:24,640 Speaker 1: land at the site. So it is good news some 8 00:00:24,720 --> 00:00:28,480 Speaker 1: reprieve for Northland. Brian Cox is the Bio Energy Association 9 00:00:28,560 --> 00:00:30,040 Speaker 1: Chief executive. He joins me this morning. 10 00:00:30,040 --> 00:00:32,440 Speaker 2: Good morning, Brian, good morning, how are you. 11 00:00:32,600 --> 00:00:35,159 Speaker 1: I'm well, thank you. How hard is it to convert 12 00:00:35,280 --> 00:00:39,120 Speaker 1: an oil refinery into a biorefinery. 13 00:00:39,360 --> 00:00:42,640 Speaker 2: Oh, that's quite commonly done around the world, although normally 14 00:00:42,640 --> 00:00:47,040 Speaker 2: it's sun was an operating refinery and unfortunately this one 15 00:00:47,080 --> 00:00:51,000 Speaker 2: was decommissioned and pulled apart, so this makes it a 16 00:00:51,000 --> 00:00:53,720 Speaker 2: lot harder to put it back together. But on the 17 00:00:53,760 --> 00:00:56,880 Speaker 2: other hand, I suppose it's lately goo you know, you've 18 00:00:57,080 --> 00:00:59,640 Speaker 2: started fresh and you do different things. 19 00:01:00,040 --> 00:01:02,640 Speaker 1: Any idea how big this might be, how many jobs 20 00:01:02,680 --> 00:01:03,240 Speaker 1: that kind of thing. 21 00:01:04,480 --> 00:01:07,319 Speaker 2: No, the aspect of what we're looking at here is 22 00:01:07,400 --> 00:01:11,560 Speaker 2: very early days and I don't know the detailed specific 23 00:01:11,640 --> 00:01:16,480 Speaker 2: in myself, but in general I can comment. And the 24 00:01:16,520 --> 00:01:19,560 Speaker 2: aspect of where we're going is that as we have 25 00:01:19,640 --> 00:01:24,440 Speaker 2: to replace petroleum type materials, whether it's for fuels with 26 00:01:24,520 --> 00:01:28,759 Speaker 2: a biofueld, or whether it's plastics moving to bioplastics, all 27 00:01:28,760 --> 00:01:33,080 Speaker 2: of these require the processing of the organics or the 28 00:01:33,120 --> 00:01:36,480 Speaker 2: biomass into a material that is then able to be 29 00:01:36,600 --> 00:01:40,160 Speaker 2: used as either that fuel or as a plastic or 30 00:01:40,319 --> 00:01:41,880 Speaker 2: any other bio based material. 31 00:01:42,280 --> 00:01:45,040 Speaker 1: What sort of organics are we typically using? 32 00:01:46,120 --> 00:01:48,840 Speaker 2: Look, we're not sure. I don't know enough about what 33 00:01:48,920 --> 00:01:51,760 Speaker 2: they are proposing on this, and I think for my 34 00:01:51,880 --> 00:01:54,880 Speaker 2: reading of it, it's very early days also for themselves. 35 00:01:55,040 --> 00:01:59,320 Speaker 2: But the aspect is we could use the natural resources 36 00:01:59,400 --> 00:02:02,320 Speaker 2: of the New Zealand is rich for the biggest part 37 00:02:02,320 --> 00:02:05,440 Speaker 2: of course, is by a mass from trees. And you know, 38 00:02:05,840 --> 00:02:10,959 Speaker 2: a tree is a collection of chemicals that are holding 39 00:02:11,040 --> 00:02:13,800 Speaker 2: hands in a way which looks like a tree. We 40 00:02:13,880 --> 00:02:17,200 Speaker 2: pull them apart and we can repackage them to look like, 41 00:02:18,160 --> 00:02:21,679 Speaker 2: you know, a plastic handbag or something like this. So 42 00:02:21,919 --> 00:02:26,560 Speaker 2: the aspect is that we can look at quite small ones. 43 00:02:26,880 --> 00:02:30,240 Speaker 2: There are people around New Zealand already who are doing 44 00:02:30,280 --> 00:02:33,000 Speaker 2: this on a small scale. 45 00:02:33,680 --> 00:02:36,120 Speaker 1: Go big isn't the problem though, it's quite hard to 46 00:02:36,160 --> 00:02:39,320 Speaker 1: get to these trees, quite a labor intensive thing to do, 47 00:02:39,480 --> 00:02:41,400 Speaker 1: and to you know, drag them out of the forest 48 00:02:41,400 --> 00:02:43,840 Speaker 1: and take them down to a Buyo refinery. 49 00:02:44,960 --> 00:02:47,880 Speaker 2: Well, you don't actually have any option as if you 50 00:02:47,960 --> 00:02:52,079 Speaker 2: think about how if we don't have petroleum and one 51 00:02:52,120 --> 00:02:55,079 Speaker 2: day for whatever reason we won't have it or it'll 52 00:02:55,120 --> 00:02:57,800 Speaker 2: be too expensive, then what are your options? And you 53 00:02:57,840 --> 00:03:01,120 Speaker 2: don't have any other options. So it's a better of 54 00:03:01,360 --> 00:03:02,280 Speaker 2: it's not a better of cost. 55 00:03:02,560 --> 00:03:04,280 Speaker 1: Yeah, all right, Brian, thank you very much for your time. 56 00:03:04,280 --> 00:03:08,120 Speaker 1: It's Brian Cox. He's the Bio Energy Association executive officer 57 00:03:08,160 --> 00:03:10,160 Speaker 1: with us this morning talking about I mean it is 58 00:03:10,200 --> 00:03:13,600 Speaker 1: got some good news for Marsden Point, the energy precinct 59 00:03:13,600 --> 00:03:16,160 Speaker 1: that could go from oil to biomass. 60 00:03:16,960 --> 00:03:19,880 Speaker 2: For more from News Talks b listen live on air 61 00:03:20,080 --> 00:03:20,960 Speaker 2: or online and 62 00:03:21,160 --> 00:03:23,440 Speaker 1: Keep our shows with you wherever you go with our 63 00:03:23,520 --> 00:03:25,280 Speaker 1: podcasts on iHeartRadio.