Australia urged to adopt LPG as ‘renewable super gas’

The Australian equivalent of GasNZ, Gas Energy Australia (GEA), is going all out in its submission on Australia’s Future Gas Strategy to predict the potential to replace all conventional LPG with net zero bioLPG and renewable synthetic LPG (rLPG) by 2045.

And its modelling suggests that by 2050 ‘actual zero carbon’ synthetic rLPG can entirely replace all LPG.

Brett Heffernan, chief executive of GEA says net zero bioLPG will be available in Australia from as early as 2025-26,

It is a by-product of biodiesel and sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) production using the hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO) process and makes up 10 percent of total biodiesel/SAF production.

With CSIRO’s Sustainable Aviation Fuel Roadmap (August 2023) noting there is currently enough feedstock in Australia to supply approximately five billion litres of SAF production every year – this  means there is potentially 500 million litres of bioLPG available from this source.

This form of bioLPG is an 80 percent renewable gas and is classed as net zero CO2 when offset by other emission reductions – with the potential to be actual zero as related sectors such as transport reduce their emissions, the GEA submission says.

Heffernan says not all gases are the same.

“LPG is different. It has viable and relatively easy pathways to decarbonise to be a positive and important renewable alternative for residential, commercial, industrial (including agriculture) and recreational uses.

“The advent of renewable synthetic LPG (rLPG), made from green hydrogen and CO2 taken from the atmosphere, is an actual zero gas.

“That is, the only CO2 expelled when it is burned is what was captured when it was made – meaning it has a zero impact on the environment and requires no offsets. It is forecast that rLPG will be available in Australia from the mid-2030s.

“Replacing all current LPG use with rLPG would remove 1.94 million tonnes of CO2-e from the atmosphere each year, all while continuing to use gas that is cost-effective, reliable, relatively easy to transition and an important complement to electrification.

“The great benefit of bioLPG and rLPG is they are simple one-for-one replacements for conventional LPG, requiring no additional capital costs as the same cylinders, pipes and appliances and equipment can be used seamlessly.”

The modelling detailed in GEA’s submission shows that as bioLPG and rLPG are phased into supply, they will replace all conventional LPG by 2045. And, by 2050, actual zero synthetic rLPG will be able to entirely replace all current LPG usage.

GEA’s submission on the Australian Future Gas Strategy is available online at: https://www.gasenergyaus.au/read/2054/future-gas-strategy.html.