ENERKEM OFFICIALLY OPENS EDMONTON FACILITY Enerkem officially inaugurated its first full-scale municipal waste-to-biofuels and chemicals facility in Edmonton, Alberta. This facility, operated by Enerkem Alberta Biofuels, is among the world’s first commercial facilities to be built for the production of renewable chemicals and advanced biofuels. During its construction, more than 600 direct and indirect jobs were created for the modular manufacturing of the facility’s systems and their on-site assembly. This industry breakthrough is a collaboration between Enerkem, the City of Edmonton and Alberta Innovates - Energy and Environment Solutions. The pioneering facility will have a production capacity of up to 38 million litres per year, will help the City of Edmonton increase its residential waste diversion rate to 90 per cent, and is expected to generate net economic spending in the local area of nearly $65 million annually. The start-up of the biorefinery follows a rigorous commissioning plan, which is nearing completion. Biomethanol production will begin progressively during the start-up. A module converting the biomethanol into advanced ethanol will be added by the end of 2015. TIMBERWEST CONSIDERING NANAIMO PELLET FACILITY TimberWest is considering construction of a $60-million pellet facility in Nanaimo. CEO Brian Frank discussed the proposed plant at a Nanaimo business function, which could see construction begin as early as late 2014. The proposed plant would have a maximum capacity of 200,000 tonnes and would use residual waste fibre from its own operations, such as tree tops, limbs and other waste material that would otherwise be burned. The facility would also use hogfuel and sawdust from other forestry and manufacturing companies. The proposal would mean less burning of wood waste and it would add value to materials that would otherwise be wasted. The engineering and designing of the proposed plant is underway, Frank told the Nanaimo Daily News in June, but a final decision has not been made on whether or not to make the investment in the plant. AGREEMENT SIGNED TO LAUNCH GITXSAN BIOENERGY PROJECT After more than three years of consultation and negotiations between Gitxsan Bio-Energy Ltd. And the Suskwa and Gitsegukla First Nations, agreements have been reached for the construction and operation of the region’s first bioenergy facility capable of producing 200,000 tonnes of both white and torrefied black pellets for the Korean market from regional fibre sources. Construction is expected to start this summer and will take about nine months to complete. Engineering and related tasks are currently underway and business details are being finalized. Gitxsan Bio-Energy is structured to be owned jointly by a group of First Nations and Korean investors and will be the first largescale commercial deployment of torrefied black pellets in B.C. destined for export markets. The plant is planned for First Nations property in Carnaby, adjacent to the CN Rail line 216 km east of Prince Rupert, and the $26-million facility will create 40 local, full-time jobs at the plant and an additional 30 in forest operations. NRCan invests in West Fraser lignin recovery process Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) has contributed $10 million under the Investments in Forest Industry Transformation (IFIT) Program to support the implementation of a commercial-scale lignin recovery process at West Fraser Timber’s plant in Hinton, Alta. West Fraser’s Hinton pulp mill will be the first in Canada to extract the lignin from its black liquor recovery stream, enabling it to produce the quantities needed to meet the supply requirements of end-users, using a proprietary process developed through past federal investments in R&D with FPInnovations and NORAM Engineering, called LignoForce.