A project that turns waste into energy received a $10 million boost June 27.
BioRefinex Canada received the funding from Alberta’s Climate Change and Emissions Management Corp. to help with its $31.8 million project in Lacombe, Alta.
The planned facility will showcase thermal hydrolysis technology that processes organic waste and animal byproducts into energy and nutrients for the soil.
BioRefinex Canada president Chris Thrall said the money represents a “significant component” to completing its financing package aimed at starting construction in 2012.
The facility will transform waste into biogas or fertilizer. The waste is now destined for landfill sites.
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Thrall said technology for the refinery has been in development for 15 years and has been certified by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and the World Organization for Animal Health as a way to dispose of specified risk material.
“The alternative now is we’re land filling this material,” said Thrall.
“It’s such a poor use of the material and it comes at such a cost to livestock producers.”
The refinery will process specified risk material and 55,000 tonnes of other organic waste from hospitals, restaurants, packing plants and slaughter facilities.
Thrall said the refinery would also be an international demonstration and research facility to prove its value as a commercial venture.
Alberta companies that annually produce more than 100,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions are legally required to reduce their greenhouse gas intensity by 12 percent or pay $15 per tonne into the Climate Change and Emissions Management Fund.
The fund then reinvests into initiatives that develop or use clean technology.
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