For example, more than 9 million oil-mallee trees have been planted in the West Australian wheatbelt in the past five years, with more plantings planned. A project undertaken by the Oil Mallee Company with funding from the JVAP is investigating the economic feasibility of an integrated processing plant that can convert mallee biomass into eucalyptus oil, charcoal, activated charcoal and use the excess heat to generate electricity. In a similar vein, the Melbourne University's School of Forestry commenced a project recently with funding from the JVAP to investigate thermochemical techniques for producing phenols, crude cellulose and essential oils from agroforestry biomass.
Phenolic compounds have a range of uses, including as an input to composite wood products.
Other projects are taking a different tack to the same goal of finding high-value agroforestry products. The project will test farm-based sawing techniques to maximise the recovery of such wood. A new project by Queensland Forestry Research Institute will do similar work with JVAP funds in western Queensland. It aims to establish basic resource and marketing information on selected native hardwoods in the region and then promote the development of a viable wood processing industry through the use of technology that will allow the efficient and sustainable harvesting, processing and marketing of remote area timbers. It will include milling studies to determine green recovery and drying performance.