University of Southern Queensland researchers transform dairy waste and duckweed into biofuels

In Australia, a collaborative project led by the University of Southern Queensland (UniSQ) is aiming to accelerate Australia’s transition to net-zero by transforming dairy waste and duckweed into scalable, sustainable biofuels. Backed by nearly A$200,000 through the Australian Government’s Australia’s Economic Accelerator (AEA) Ignite program, the project will develop scalable technology to convert nutrients from dairy manure into high-volume biomass using duckweed – one of the world’s fastest-growing plants – as a renewable fuel feedstock.

The project will combine UniSQ’s expertise in agriculture and natural resource management with plant science knowledge from the University of Adelaide and precision manufacturing by Active Research. The team’s goal is to reach Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 4 by the end of the project, validating biofuel yield modelling in preparation for future lab testing.