BIOMASS update CANADIAN BIOECONOMY CONFERENCE ANNOUNCES TOP-FLIGHT SPEAKERS An all-star line-up of thought-leaders and insiders from the bioeconomy in North America and Europe will be on hand June 6-8 as industry professionals, elected officials, First Nations and corporate leaders meet in Prince George, B.C., for the largest conference of its kind in Canada. George Heyman, B.C.’s new minister of environment and climate change strategy, will provide a keynote address at the Canadian Bioeconomy Conference and Exhibition, outlining the B.C. NDP gov-ernment’s climate commitment and the opportunities he sees in the new bioeconomy. “The B.C. government is seeking new and innovative ways to build a sustainable economy while at the same time developing a comprehen-sive climate change strategy,” said Sandy Ferguson, confer-ence chair and vice-president of corporate development for Conifex Timber. “Biomass is a key feedstock for renewable energy, fuels and chemicals. So it’s an opportune time to have Minister Heyman bring his vi-sion for the role of value-add-ed biomass in the growing clean economy.” In addition to Heyman, a number of industry leaders and elected officials will take the stage at Bioeconomy 2018: • Perry Toms – CEO, Steeper Energy (Denmark/Canada) • Benedict McAleenan – Head, Biomass UK (United Kingdom) • Joel Stone – President, Convergince Advisers (USA) • Seth Walker – Senior Bioenergy Economist, FutureMetrics (USA) • Anna Tenje – Mayor, Vaxjo, Sweden (Sweden) • Donny Van Somer – Chief, Kwadacha First Nation (Canada) • Lyn Hall – Mayor, Prince George, B.C. (Canada) • Mike Morris – MLA, Prince George-Mackenzie (Canada) • Gordon Murray – Execu-tive Director, Wood Pellet Association of Canada (Canada) • Derek Nighbor – CEO, Forest Products Association of Canada (Canada) And more to come. “The Canadian Bioeconomy Conference and Exhibition will build on the success of its predecessor, the International Bioenergy Conference,” said Ferguson. “We’ll continue to bring expertise from around the globe to share knowledge and best practices with Cana-dian industry members, and to demonstrate Prince George’s and Northern B.C.’s leadership role in the Canadian bioeco-nomy.” The 8th Canadian Bio-economy Conference and Exhibition will take place in Prince George June 6-8, 2018. Register at www.bioeconomyconference.com ENERKEM WASTE-TO-ENERGY TECHNOLOGY HEADING TO NETHERLANDS A consortium of companies compris-ing Air Liquide, AkzoNobel Specialty Chemicals, Enerkem and the Port of Rotterdam has signed a project develop-ment agreement covering initial invest-ments in an advanced waste-to-chemistry facility in Rotterdam. The facility will be the first of its kind in Europe to provide a sustainable alternative solution for non-recyclable wastes, converting waste plastics and other mixed wastes into new raw materials. The facility will convert up to 360,000 tons of waste into 220,000 tons (270 million litres) of ‘green’ methanol. As an equivalent, this represents the total non-recyclable mixed waste, including plastics, into syngas and then into clean methanol for use in the chemical industry and for the transportation sector. Today, methanol is generally produced from natural gas or coal. The plant will have two production lines, or twice the input capacity of Enerkem’s commer-cial-scale plant in Edmonton. It will ben-efit from the state-of-the-art infrastructure available within the Port of Rotterdam, as well as synergies with Air Liquide (large industries) for supplying the required oxygen and together with AkzoNobel, the raw material hydrogen. AkzoNobel also acts as a customer for the methanol. MARCH/APRIL 2018 annual waste of more than 700,000 households and represents a CO2 emis-sion savings of about 300,000 tonnes. The facility will use Enerkem’s propri-etary technology, and will convert 6 Canadian BIOMASS
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