Many may have heard of sugarcane ethanol, an alcohol-based fuel produced from crushing sugarcane stalks to extract and ferment the juice.
 
But what many people don’t realise is that you can also produce cleaner, more environmentally friendly biofuels from sugarcane tops and leaves.
 
That’s where Iro Resources comes in. Iro’s planned Leandros Biofuels Project in Gladstone will initially produce up to 1 billion litres of transport diesel synthesised from up to 2 million tonnes of sugar cane tops and leaves. The company’s production facility will be sited within an established industrial precinct in Gladstone to access skilled labour and a steady gas supply.
 
Iro’s friendlier diesel will be manufactured for supply to Australian aviation and mining industries using the proven Fischer-Tropsch process technology. They will be competitively priced against conventional, high carbon fuels which have more than double the greenhouse gas emissions.
 
Iro plans to initially source and pre-treat feedstock each year in sugar communities such as Mackay and Maryborough before trucking it to Gladstone. Canegrowers have the potential to secure a new and reliable source of income for formerly worthless waste, traditionally discarded and ploughed back into the fields.