Under construction (May 2013)

Type: Commercial

Status: Under construction               

Feedstock: Post-sorted municipal solid waste

Planned Product: Methanol, Ethanol

Expected Capacity: 38 million litres /10 million gallons per year

The Enerkem Alberta Biofuels facility will help increase the City of Edmonton's waste diversion rate from 60% to 90%.

Enerkem, through its affiliate Enerkem Alberta Biofuels, has signed a 25-year agreement with the City of Edmonton to build and operate a plant that will produce and sell next-generation biofuels from non recyclable and non compostable municipal solid waste (MSW). This plant is expected to be the world's first major collaboration between a metropolitan centre and a waste-to-biofuels producer to turn municipal waste into methanol and ethanol.

As part of the agreement, the City of Edmonton will supply 100,000 dry metric tons of sorted MSW per year. The sorted MSW to be used is the ultimate residue after recycling and composting, which is saved from being landfilled.

The project was granted a permit, under the Environmental Protection and Enhancement Act of the Province of Alberta, to commence construction and operation of the commercial facility. Construction started during summer 2010. Operations are scheduled to start in 2013 with methanol, followed by ethanol in 2014.

Enerkem’s project partners, namely the City of Edmonton and Alberta Innovates – Energy and Environment Solutions, contributed $20 million to the project. The project has been selected by Alberta Energy to receive $3.35 million in funding, as part of the Biorefining Commercialization and Market Development Program.  In addition, Waste Management and EB Investments have invested $15 million for a minority equity interest in the project.

This facility is part of a comprehensive municipal waste-to-biofuels initiative (www.edmontonbiofuels.ca) in partnership with the City of Edmonton and Alberta Innovates.

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