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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Enerkem (Montreal,
Quebec, Canada) has announced plans to build an 875-million Canadian dollar
(USD684-million) waste-to-methanol and biofuels plant in Varennes, Quebec, in
partnership with Shell, Suncor, and Proman, according to Chemweek.
The proposed Varennes Carbon
Recycling (VCR) facility will be one of the world’s largest renewable hydrogen
and oxygen production plants with an 87-megawatt electrolyzer, and convert over
200,000 metric tons of non-recyclable waste and wood waste into nearly 125
million liters/year of biofuels and renewable chemicals, it says. The project
would create over 500 jobs during construction and about 100 permanent positions
during operations, with estimated yearly recurring economic benefits for Quebec
of USD85 million, it adds. A total of CD60 million has so far been invested on
development of the project, including site preparations and the obtaining of
required permits.
The proposed partnership is subject to finalization of
commercial agreements, Enerkem says. Shell, Suncor, and Proman will all be
leading investors in the project, with Hydro-Quebec to supply the green hydrogen
and oxygen. The project also has the support of the Quebec and Canadian
governments, it says.
Enerkem’s proprietary thermochemical process
enables the conversion of carbon into biofuels and renewable chemicals made from
methanol, which will be the project’s intermediary product, it says. The company
operated an initial pilot project in Westbury, Quebec, and its first commercial
38-million liters/year plant producing methanol and ethanol is located in
Edmonton, Alberta.
“The further implementation of Enerkem’s unique waste
gasification technology will be a significant step towards enabling the wider
availability of highly sustainable biomethanol, as part of the global low-carbon
energy transition,” says David Cassidy, Proman chief executive. Proman is the
world’s second largest producer of methanol.
As MRC reported earlier,
in May 2020, NOVA Chemicals Corp. (Calgary, Alberta, Canada) and Enerkem
Inc. (Montreal, Quebec, Canada) entered into a joint development agreement
to explore turning non-recyclable and non-compostable municipal waste into
ethylene, a basic building block of plastics. Working together, the companies
will research advanced recycling technology to transform hard-to-recycle
municipal waste, including items such as plastics, household waste, and
construction materials, into ethylene at full commercial scale. Ethylene,
produced from waste, would advance a plastics circular economy and help meet
consumer brand goals for recycled content in packaging.
Ethylene is the
main feedstock for the production of polyethylene
(PE).
According to MRC's ScanPlast report,
Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,760,950 tonnes in the first ten
months of 2020, up by 3% year on year. Only high density polyethylene (HDPE) and
linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) shipments increased. |
