Enerkem Announces Construction Start of World’s First Municipal Waste-to-Biofuels Facility in Edmonton, Alberta

09-02-2010: Enerkem Inc. held a groundbreaking ceremony to signify the start of construction of its municipal waste-to-biofuels facility with its partners, the City of Edmonton and the Government of Alberta. Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach, Edmonton Mayor Stephen Mandel and Enerkem Chief Executive Officer Vincent Chornet participated in the event.

According to the company, Enerkem’s advanced biofuels plant, which will be located in Edmonton, Alberta, is the world’s first industrial-scale biofuels project to use municipal solid waste as feedstock. It will have an annual production capacity of 36 million litres / 10 million gallons. Using Enerkem’s proprietary clean technology, the CAD$ 80 million facility will produce enough biofuels to fuel over 400,000 cars per year running on a five per cent ethanol blend. It will be built, owned and operated by Enerkem Alberta Biofuels LP, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Enerkem. The City of Edmonton and Enerkem Alberta Biofuels have signed a 25-year agreement to convert 100,000 tonnes of the City’s municipal solid waste into biofuels annually. The garbage to be used cannot be recycled or composted.

“This groundbreaking marks the launch of a transformative project and leads the first wave of commercial-scale advanced biofuels plants in North America”, said Enerkem’s President and Chief Executive Officer, Vincent Chornet. “This plant is the genesis of a world transformation where our non-recyclable garbage will power the vehicles we drive and reduce carbon emissions.”