Enerkem, as part of Enerkem GreenField Alberta Biofuels (EGAB) 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, including methanol and cellulosic ethanol, from sorted municipal solid waste. This is the world's first agreement between a large urban centre and a biofuel producer to turn municipal waste into ethanol.
As part of the agreement, the City of Edmonton will supply a minimum of 100,000 tonnes of sorted municipal solid waste per year. The sorted municipal solid waste to be used is the ultimate residue after recycling and composting. These residues would otherwise be land-filled.
EGAB has successfully completed the necessary environmental regulatory process overseen by Alberta Environment, to carry out these plans. The project met all required regulatory environmental standards, including air emissions, and 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 of the biofuels facility at the Edmonton Waste Management Centre in Edmonton Alberta, is scheduled by the end of 2009. The plant will initially produce 36 million litres of biofuels per year.
This facility is part of a comprehensive waste-to-biofuels initiative, made up of three components: the commercial waste-to-fuels plant to be operated by EGAB, an advanced energy research facility as well as a leading-edge waste processing and transfer facility. The initiative is a collaborative effort between Enerkem, the City of Edmonton and the government of Alberta, via the Alberta Energy Research Institute (AERI).
The research facility component will be developed by Enerkem and the City of Edmonton. It will focus on the development and demonstration of novel catalytic conversion processes to produce advanced biofuels and green chemicals from waste. The research facility will include laboratory equipment and a well-instrumented pilot plant, welcoming top researchers from the country. Enerkem will conduct some of its advanced research at the facility, led by Dr. Esteban Chornet, Enerkem’s Chief Technology Officer. Construction of the research facility, which will be adjacent to the aforementioned commercial waste-to-biofuels production facility, has commenced and is scheduled to be completed in the first quarter of 2010. The waste processing and transfer facility will be built by the City of Edmonton.
An exciting project has been created from this initiative. Strathcona County will be using the residual heat and synthetic gas created from the Biofuel Facility's process as an energy source in the heating loop in Sherwood Park. This project has received $7.45 M in grant funding from the Clean Air and Climate Change -Technology and Innovation Program, under the Government of Alberta's share of the Canada ecoTrust.
From left to right: Stephen Mandel, Edmonton Mayor; Vincent Chornet, President and Chief Executive Officer of Enerkem; Donald Pierce, President of Greenfield Ethanol's Advanced Biofuels Group; Doug Horner, Minister of Advanced Education and Technology.
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Site of Enerkem GreenField Alberta Biofuel's future plant in Edmonton.
