Mollongghip and District Enterprises Energy completes feasibility study

Mollongghip and District Enterprises, or MADE Energy, was founded by Bryce Ott, Peter Reid, Gavin Ronan and Joe Finneran.

Earlier this year the start-up was awarded a $100,000 Commonwealth Business, Research and Innovation Initiative grant, supported by the Grains Research Development Corporation and the CSIRO.

As part of the 12 week feasibility study, MADE Energy worked with Griffith University to test various feedstocks.

READ MORE: Mollongghip startup looks to create hydrogen from crops

Mr Finneran said the group planted about 20 different trial crops in November and all of these were sent to be tested with three different reactors to determine how much gas could be produced.

Stubble varieties performed better than expected, he said, which tied in well with the group's aim to convert farm waste into hydrogen and then into a high quality fertiliser.

"We're trying to fix a problem that farmers have got - stubble's a pain in terms of do they burn it, do they leave it, do they bail it," he said.

"We're not trying to change what farmers grow... we're genuinely trying to fix problems that already exist.

"You're really taking that agricultural waste and converting it into something that's high value, that can be reused by the local community, local farmers, so that circular economy."

"That's the really exciting bit."

Part of the trial involved interviewing 14 broadacre farmers in the western districts.

"They were really fascinating conversations about what farmers grow, how they apply fertilisers, pesticides, herbicides, all that nutrient management and how they manage soil and plant health," he said.

"What we found is that a lot of farmers don't really understand what hydrogen does.

"We got a really deep understanding of how much they apply, how much they spend on fertilisers."

He said a number of farmers were very positive about the project.

The group is now applying for a second round of Commonwealth funding to carry out the proof of concept stage of the project.

"We can then build the pieces of equipment to then scale it up to a minimum viable product," he said.

"The minimum viable product doesn't have all the bells and whistles on it, but it proves at a larger scale that we can actually take the research and development into real life."

If that was successful then the group would look for investors to commercialise the project.

"A key component for that is really making it practical and making it work for communities," he said.

"Also is it financially sustainable - it's a balance of different things."

One critical part of the project would be to develop bio-hubs within regional communities to develop fertiliser.

This could create new jobs and produce new fuels and fertilisers, he said.

"The way this model works is collecting feedstocks within a certain radius to reduce the transportation costs, and then using these centralised bio-hubs, which could be dotted across Victoria or Australia or beyond, that's where it all happens," he said.

It was rewarding to see the project develop, he said.

"This is a potentially massive gamechanger for local farmers, the way we use energy and the way we use fertilisers," he said.

"We've still got a long way to go but it feels like we've got the potential to have some real meaningful impact."