Canada-based Covenant Energy Ltd. has chosen Haldor Topsoe’s HydroFlex renewable fuel technology to produce renewable diesel from vegetable oil. The 6,500 barrels-per-day renewable diesel unit will be built in Saskatchewan, Canada, and is scheduled to go into operation early in 2024.

Topsoe will also provide its H2bridge hydrogen technology based on the modular and highly efficient Haldor Topsoe Convection Reformer (HTCR) technology.

Covenant Energy’s new facility will produce renewable diesel with a significantly lower—80% to 85%—carbon footprint than conventional diesel and will thereby support Canada’s goal of carbon neutrality by 2050 under the country’s clean energy diversification strategy.

With HydroFlex, customers can convert low value feedstocks to renewable fuels that qualify for the California Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) credit. The HydroFlex process layout offers lower capital expenditure (CAPEX), but also a lower energy consumption during operation, resulting in a lower Carbon Index (CI).

Topsoe’s HydroFlex can be deployed in both grassroots units and revamps for co-processing or stand-alone applications.

Topsoe’s H2bridge delivers a circular solution to refineries and biorefineries by replacing fossil feedstocks with renewable LPG or naphtha to produce renewable hydrogen, thereby generating significant greenhouse gas emissions savings and lower the carbon intensity of the renewable fuels produced in the HydroFlex unit.

Covenant Energy was founded in 2019 with the mission to become a Canadian leader in the green fuel industry through the production of Renewable Diesel and Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF). To do so, Covenant Energy is developing a stand-alone Hydrogenation-Derived Renewable Diesel (HDRD) refinery in Canada, which will transform renewable feedstocks—with a focus on Canadian prairie-grown canola oil—into a premium diesel product.

Covenant estimates that the facility will create demand for 35 million bushels of canola seed (worth roughly $500 million) to produce 325-350 thousand tonnes of canola oil feedstock per year.

While the ambition is to use predominantly Canadian canola oil as the feedstock and ship renewable fuels throughout Canada and Canada’s northern communities, Covenant’s proposed location will be situated on a Class 1 railway, giving the ultimate flexibility to access feedstock from across Canada and the US, as well as providing the potential to sell product into the US market.