A technical review and preliminary economic study of the Australian pongamia industry

Pongamia (Millettia pinnata) is a tree that produces seeds with around 40% oil content that can be converted into biodiesel, other products associated with the tree include high protein food supplements for livestock. It will grow on soils not suited for broadacre crops and will tolerate salinity and flooding. In addition, pongamia is a legume that supplies its own nitrogen, has low costs and high energy efficiency.

This project provided information and observations on pongamia which has become available in the last ten years and identified optimum management practices and benchmarks for yield and other aspects to enable a sound economic assessment of its potential in Australia.