Forge Hydrocarbons, led by Tim Haig, one of Canada’s top bio-fuel entrepreneurs, is commercializing a patented conversion process developed by Dr. David Bressler, a researcher in the Faculty of Agricultural, Life and Environmental Sciences at the University of Alberta.

Bressler’s process starts with “ugly” feedstock such as animal fat, beef tallow, crop seed oil and even restaurant grease, and emerges at the other with pure gas or diesel fuel.

A pre-commercial plant using the company’s patented conversion process was commissioned in Agri-Food Discovery Place on the University of Alberta’s South Campus, with a capacity to produce 200,000 liters/year.

In 2015, Forge received $4,201,814 from Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC) toward a $12.7-million project for the development of the pre-commercial demonstration plant with a production capacity of 19 million liters per year.