Enerkem Awarded $3.35 Million For Biofuel Facility

Transforming residential waste into biofuel is a step closer to becoming a reality as Enerkem received $3.35 million today from the Biorefining Commercialization and Market Development Program sponsored by Alberta Energy to develop a plant in Edmontion.Today’s award brings Enerkem’s total funding for the plant to $23.5 million as the company has already received $20 million from the City of Edmonton and Alberta.Groundbreaking on the Enerkam GreenField Alberta Biofuels (EGAB) will take place this summer. When completed, the plant will use residential waste that was headed for landfills to produce a green transportation fuel. The plant will also produce enough ethanol to fuel 400,000 cars per year running on a 5 percent ethanol blend.
“Our Edmonton waste-to-biofuels facility will influence cities in North America, and around the world, in how they manage their waste and it promises to revolutionize the fuels market,” said Vincent Chornet, president and chief executive officer at Enerkem.
In December 2009 Enerkem received $50 million in funding from the U.S. Department of Enerty to construct and operate a waste-to-biofuels facility to be located in Pontotoc, Mississippi. That plant is expected to produce 20 million gallons of biofuel per year.
Based in Montreal, Canada, Enerkem is a private company that has received funding from U.S venture capital firms Rho Ventures and Braemar Energy Ventures