Canada’s Ocean Supercluster announced its largest project to date, the $65-million Clean Ocean Advanced Biofuels Project. In the project, Ontario-based Valent Low Carbon Technologies will work with a pan-Canadian team to produce Canada’s first renewable diesel from abundantly available agricultural and forestry by-products.

A major ocean industry challenge is the need for a range of environmentally sustainable, low greenhouse gas (GHG) emission, and low-sulfur marine fuels available to end-users at a competitive cost that are compliant with current and future fuel regulations. The Clean Ocean Advanced Biofuels project will address these challenges by introducing a low-carbon biofuel across the marine ecosystem.

For the development of the Clean Ocean Advanced Biofuels Project, Valent will work with partners FORGE Hydrocarbons, Mara Renewables, Clearwater, Katal Energy, Horizon Maritime, and Sustainable Development Technology Canada to produce fuel and solvents to be used in industry and a hydrocarbon material with improved nutritional value for human health products.

With a total value of $65 million dollars, the Ocean Supercluster will provide nearly $5.7 million with the balance coming from the project’s industry and government partners.

Canada’s Ocean Supercluster is a pan-Canadian, industry-led transformative cluster focused on tackling some of the biggest challenges across ocean sectors through a collaborative program designed to accelerate the development and commercialization of globally relevant solutions, while also building a highly-capable, inclusive workforce. The Ocean Supercluster has approved more than 60 projects with a total value of $320 million.