ASSOCIATE Professor Allan Barton from the School of Chemistry was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia in the General Division on Australia Day 2001.

The award was for service to the environment through the development of industrial uses for eucalyptus oil and recognition of the role of large-scale eucalyptus plantings in the rehabilitation of saline affected soils.

Professor Barton has spent much of the past two decades researching the potential of oil mallees: surveying the oil content and growth rates of Western Australian species.

His research has demonstrated that the active ingredient cineole is a highly effective degreasing solvent, and Alcoa is now using it in one of its mechanical workshops instead of solvents that damage the ozone layer.

Professor Barton’s preliminary test work was a main driver behind the Oil Mallee Project, which is using this commercially viable native species to revegetate salt affected areas of the Wheatbelt.

Western Power and its partners (Oil Mallee Company, CALM, and Enecon Pty Ltd) will build an Integrated Wood Processing demonstration plant at Narrogin supplying 1MW of renewable energy to the main electricity grid.

Using as feedstock oil mallees grown locally for salinity control, the plant will also produce eucalyptus oil from the leaves and convert the wood to activated carbon through a pyrolysis process developed by the CSIRO.

Professor Barton received his award from the Western Australian Governor Lieutenant-General John Sanderson on Friday 30 March.