Expander Energy Profile Alberta companies join forces on drop-in bio-synthetic fuels from residuals By Maria Church wo Calgary companies have teamed up to introduce bio-synthetic diesel and jet fuel from forestry residuals and other non-food feedstocks to the Canadian and international markets. Technology provider Expander Energy and Cielo Waste Solutions, a public waste-to-fuel environmental tech company, are ramping up on multiple projects that Ex-pander president and COO Gord Crawford says are filling a growing need for drop-in biofuels made from low-cost, cellulosic feedstock. Nearly all renewable fuels in Canada are imported and made from food waste and oil-seeds, mainly canola. Large, under construc -tion renewable diesel refineries in Canada will also use oilseed as their main feedstock. “The issue is the bust between the volume of seed oils that can be produced without impacting the food supply and the volume of diesel and jet fuel that are con-sumed every year,” Crawford says. “We will be producing both paraffinic renew -able diesel and Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF). We have developed a number of processes to do that from non food compet-itive waste products.” In 2022, Expander announced it has third-party verified the Net-Zero or better carbon intensity of its trademarked Bio-Syn -Diesel ® , produced through its enhanced bio-mass-to-liquids (EBTL™) process. “Essentially the way we get to a low-car-bon intensity fuel is by ensuring that every molecule of carbon in the fuel is short-cycle biocarbon from the atmosphere. We let the plants do all the hard work. We then gasify that biomass and efficiently convert it into a liquid fuel product,” Crawford says. Cielo CEO Ryan Jackson says the partnership with Expander, anchored by a transaction finalized in November, will al -low both companies to accelerate the time Expanding presence T Used CP railway ties are ready for transport to a processing facility. Photo: Expander Energy to revenue on major projects in the works. Cielo is now “powered by Expander,” Jackson said. “It’s really a good way to de -scribe what it is we are doing … Expander has market ready technology that we can deploy.” EXPANDER HISTORY Expander Energy as a company is going on 14 years in the cleantech industry as a biomass to liquid-fuels producer. The com -pany has developed a number of patented processes including a tar-free biomass gas-ifier which is based on a proven Biomass to Power gasifier that successfully operated in the Czech Republic. Combined with a prov-en small scale Fisher Tropsch conversion technology which is in operation at Rocky Mountain Clean Fuels Inc. in Carsleand, Alta., Expander can produce a drop-in bio-synthetic diesel and jet fuel from low-cost cellulosic feedstock. “History is littered with gasifiers that don’t work,” Crawford says. “Expanders patented 3-stage vertical design operated under EU-certification conditions, over a five-year period, and reliably produced vir -tually zero-tar syngas. There are a number of technical reasons why it’s significantly different than anything in the market.” In May, the company partnered with IMG Industries to form Expander Tech -nologies Inc., which will manufacture their patented biomass gasifier. The new Canadian BIOMASS 15
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