Residues2Revenues 2026 wrapped up in Brisbane with more than 160 delegates attending the first Australian R2R event in over a decade. The conference explored new ways to extract energy and value from wood fibre and other biomass residues, at a time when global fuel supply pressures and the push to diversify renewable resources are bringing biomass back into focus. Investment from both government and the private sector is also helping move more technologies towards commercial deployment.

Presentations covered a wide range of approaches, from improving the preparation and handling of biomass to converting residues into liquid fuels, industrial heat and high-value carbon products.

HAMR Energy outlined its plans to use plantation residues to produce methanol and sustainable aviation fuel, while BioCarbon presented its GreenChar technology, a renewable carbon product developed as a replacement for fossil coke in steelmaking. Other presentations examined how pyrolysis and carbonisation can produce biochar, useful process heat and carbon removal credits from the same feedstock.

Direct combustion also remains an important option for displacing fossil fuels, with modern boiler systems able to use high-moisture woodchips to supply industrial heat. Meanwhile, advances in drying, densification, storage and material handling are helping address some of the practical challenges involved in turning variable residue streams into reliable industrial feedstocks.

Across the programme, the discussion extended beyond the technologies themselves to the commercial requirements for making them work at scale. Reliable feedstock supplies, transport logistics, long-term supply agreements and the ability to demonstrate carbon benefits are all becoming increasingly important as new projects move forward.