by Bill Mah (Edmonton Journal) The company behind a refinery to turn fat and grease into renewable fuels says the pilot plant could soon offer another local market for Alberta farmers and cut greenhouse gas emissions at the same time.
Edmonton-based SBI BioEnergy is building the approximately $10-million mini-refinery at the Edmonton Research Park to demonstrate proprietary technology that turns vegetable oils, animal fats and tall oil — a by-product of the pulp and paper industry — into renewable diesel and jet fuel.
The project would also help attract investment partners that SBI needs to move into its full-scale production goal of 240 million litres a year by 2018.
“This is a crucial step for getting into commercialization,” said Inder Singh, founding president and CEO of SBI, at the official groundbreaking on Monday.
“We have been working on this technology for over eight years now and finally we’ve got to this point.”
When it begins operations in 2016, the pilot plant will be capable of producing up to 10 million litres of “drop-in” renewable diesel and jet fuels.
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He said it’s the only technology known that can convert biodiesel into renewable diesel. READ MORE