NIST seeks proposals to establish new center of excellence on advanced materials research
HEHC engine company LiquidPiston raises $2.25M

Waste-to-biofuels company Enerkem raised C$50 million in latest financing round

Canada-based waste-to-biofuels company Enerkem Inc. recently closed a C$50-million (US$47.6-million) financing, which brings total equity investment raised by Enerkem in 2013 to C$87 million (US$82.7 million).

Enerkem’s technology platform is a 4-step thermochemical process that consists of:

  • feedstock preparation
  • gasification
  • cleaning and conditioning of syngas
  • catalytic synthesis

As part of this financing, institutional fund Investissement Québec joins existing investors Waste Management of Canada, Rho Ventures, Braemar Energy Ventures, The Westly Group, Cycle Capital, Fonds de solidarité FTQ and Fondaction, which each increased their investment in Enerkem with this new equity financing round.

Investissement Québec, as a mandatary for the Government of Québec, is one of the largest institutional investors in Canada. Through structural investments, it supports the growth of innovative companies with a global competitive edge and the potential to accelerate the transition to a green manufacturing economy.

This strategic investment by Investissement Québec will help us leverage and strengthen our capacity to build and assemble the various modules of our facilities through the network of local and high quality shops we are currently working with. As we are finalizing the construction of the Enerkem Alberta Biofuels facility in Edmonton and developing our next facilities, we take this new corporate equity investment as a vote of confidence in Enerkem’s growth strategy.Vincent Chornet, president and CEO of Enerkem.

With its proprietary technology, Enerkem converts non-recyclable municipal solid waste into methanol, ethanol and other widely used chemical intermediates. Enerkem operates both a demonstration plant and a pilot facility in Québec. Enerkem is currently building a full-scale waste-to-biofuels facility in Edmonton, Alberta, and is developing similar facilities in North America and globally.

Comments

HarveyD

This (JV between Government and private enterprises) could become an excellent way to greatly reduce garbage volume (by up to 99%) while producing essential liquid fuels and chemicals.

The liquid fuels produced could be enough to feed most if not all public transportation and administration vehicles.

The size of the facility can be adjusted to match the size of the city and/or available feed stock (garbage).

The comments to this entry are closed.