A Canadian company plans to begin construction of a new industrial-sized plant that will be capable to transform non-recyclable waste into biofuel. Dubbed Enerkem, the plant, located in Quebec, will be the world’s first and according to the company it will generate 10 million gallons of 5 percent ethanol-petrol blend a year.
The fuel produced will be enough to power about 400,000 cars and besides this it will also help meet renewable fuel standards set by the the province of Alberta and the Canadian federal government.
The Enerkem facility will start producing biofuel at the beginning of next year and it is expected to convert 100,000 tonnes of municipal waste into fuel each year.
The company also claims that some of the waste has to be pre-sorted. Any material containing carbon molecules that can be chemically recycled.
Due to a combination of chemical catalysts, pressure and heat, the carbon residues are converted into transport fuel and other useful chemicals.
Alberta Innovates and the City of Edmonton have contributed with substantial sums to this project (about $20 million). The project has also received another $3.35 million from Alberta Energy, as part of a program to stimulate investment in renewable energy.
[Source: Irish Times]
