• Home
• Project
• Status
• Technology
• Partners
• Resources
• Contacts

Project Description

Overview of the Edmonton
Waste-to-Biofuels project

This innovative project will convert municipal waste into biofuels. The Edmonton Waste-to-Biofuels project will provide Edmonton the opportunity to reduce GHG emissions, create an environmentally responsible and competitive alternative to landfilling, and produce clean biofuels. This project is a public-private sector collaboration between the City of Edmonton, the Government of Alberta, through Alberta Innovates- Energy and Environment Solutions (EES, formerly the Alberta Energy Research Institute (AERI)),and Enerkem Alberta Biofuels (EAB).  It will enable the City of Edmonton to increase its residential waste diversion rate to 90% and it will demonstrate the Government of Alberta’s commitment to energy innovation. It includes three facilities:

1. Waste-to-Biofuels Production Facility – will produce 36-million liters of ethanol per year
2. Advanced Energy Research Facility – will attract world-class energy research
3. Municipal Waste Processing Facility – designed to optimize waste as a resource

1. Waste-to-Biofuels Production Facility: The commercial biofuels production facility will use Enerkem’s green technology to convert sorted municipal solid waste (MSW) into ethanol. The facility will initially produce 36 million litres (9.5 M gallons) of ethanol per year. For the project, EAB and the City of Edmonton entered into a 25-year agreement for the supply of 100,000 tonnes of sorted MSW per year. The sorted MSW to be used is the ultimate residue after recycling and composting. These residues would otherwise be landfilled. 
   
   
   
   
2. Advanced Energy Research Facility: The research facility will focus on the development and demonstration of innovative technologies that are capable of converting residual biomass into biofuels and green chemicals. This facility will allow the development of a new line of alcohol and hydrocarbon fuels suitable for tomorrow’s reality.  The City of Edmonton will develop the facility in collaboration with Enerkem. It will include laboratory equipment and a well-instrumented pilot plant.  A joint steering group and a technical committee will guide and implement the research and development activities. Dr. Esteban Chornet, a world-leading scientist in this area and Enerkem’s Chief Technology Officer, will lead some of Enerkem’s advanced research at the facility.  The facility will welcome top researchers from Alberta, Canada and around the world, particularly those specialized in thermo-catalysis.
   
   
   
3. Municipal Waste Processing and Transfer Facility: The City’s Integrated Processing & Transfer Facility (IPTF) will have three distinct operations, which will include a waste transfer operation, a pre-processing operation and a refuse derived fuel (RDF) plant. The facility will enable the City to sort waste into streams destined for the composting, recycling, landfilling and biofuels production.
   
   

Benefits of the Edmonton Waste-to-Biofuels project

The project will have a wide range of cascading environmental, economical and technological benefits to the advantage of all Edmontonians. These include:

• Reduction of Alberta’s carbon dioxide (CO₂) footprint by more than 6 million tonnes over the next 25 years – the equivalent of removing more than 42,000 cars off the road every year.
• Lower demand for landfilling
• Creation of green jobs
• Implementation of a new local industry – the production of advanced biofuels
• Direct contribution towards meeting federal and provincial 5% renewable fuels standard.
• Energy efficiency gains from the use of an innovative and green technology transforming waste into biofuels

The advanced research center will also improve Edmonton’s knowledge capital – drawing in top talent from across Canada and throughout the world that will continue to pay dividends into the future. Other tangible gains will be:

• Development of and improvements to technologies capable of converting residual biomass into biofuels and green chemicals
• Elevation of Alberta and Canada’s R&D profile internationally
• Creation of a network of top researchers from Alberta, Canada and around the world - particularly those specialized in thermo-catalysis
• Advancement towards the development of a new line of alcohol and hydrocarbon fuels suitable for tomorrow’s reality.

Latest Updates