The Australian Government is promoting domestic production of diesel exhaust fluid (DEF) to make the critical transport energy system more resilient and the country more self-sufficient.
Australia's transport and logistics industries are reliant on DEF which reduces harmful nitrogen oxide emissions from diesel engines. Tight supply of technical grade urea (the main component of DEF) over the 2021 summer exposed Australia's over reliance on imports.
The Maintaining our Supply of Diesel Exhaust Fluid (MOSDEF) $16.15 million competitive grant program is open until Tuesday 31 January 2023.
The program aims to encourage Australian industry to produce DEF from means other than imported technical grade urea (TGU).
The MOSDEF grant program will enhance the resilience of the domestic DEF market by supporting domestic manufacturing from 2023 to mid-2026.
On 15 September, the Hon Minister Bowen (MP) announced a range of measures to ensure local supply of DEF that includes:
- competitive grants supporting sovereign manufacturing capability
- a government-controlled stockpile of 7500 tonnes of TGU providing 5 weeks of supply beyond industry stock levels, in the event of critical supply chain failure
- collection of voluntary data from industry for market awareness of TGU and DEF stocks.
