“The Mindset Is There, We Need the Technologies and to Integrate Them: The Time Is Now”: Looking at Enerkem’s Evolution and the Rise of the Circular Economy

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) ... Enerkem has been famed as a plaform for producing ethanol from municipal solid waste. Yet, there’s methanol as a platform. There’s also the possibility of moving from syngas to ethylene. There’s methanol to olefins, which opens up potential to go from mixed plastic waste to new plastic.

Think of recycling plastic and recycling it come more. Eventually, after many uses, it can become degraded. That’s when the Enerkem process might break it into syngas and use it all over again by creating newly original plastic. And so on.

" ... But if you step into this new wave of innovation coming out of the start-ups, this wave is completely differenet and the mind-set is completely different, it’s more about leaps and bounds and risk taking than any major chemical company culture. Here at Enerkem we could be innovating at that [advanced pace] for the next 10 years.” (Enerkem Vice President, Technology Strategy & Deployment, Peter Nieuwenhuizen)

The Enerkem backstory

Enerkem produces advanced biofuels and renewable chemicals from waste. Its disruptive proprietary technology converts non-recyclable, non-compostable municipal solid waste into methanol, ethanol and other widely-used chemicals, and operates at full commercial scale in Alberta as well as an innovation centre in Quebec.

We reported in April that Enerkem closed a new round of financing totalling C$76.3 million. The financing comes from Enerkem’s existing investors, as well as a new investor, Suncor Energy Inc. This injection of additional capital will help foster the company’s growth by continuing the development of its other projects, including in Varennes, Québec, and Rotterdam, Holland.

Suncor, one of Canada’s largest energy companies, is joining Enerkem’s shareholders, comprising Braemar Energy Ventures, Cycle Capital, Fondaction, Fonds de solidarité FTQ, Investissement Québec, National Bank of Canada, Rho Ventures, Sunkem, the Westly Group and Waste Management of Canada. In addition to its equity interest, Suncor will share technical resources to support acceleration of Enerkem’s growth.

Similarly, as part of this financing, the Government of Québec has increased its equity ownership in Enerkem by C$13.3 million through the Fonds du développement économique.

Waste-to-chemicals project in Rotterdam: the complete story

It’s not just Enerkem and Nouryon: Shell and Air Liquide are in the mix. As we reported in March, the consortium, which has set up a dedicated joint venture company, has already undertaken extensive preparatory work, covering detailed engineering and the permitting process. It aims to take the final investment decision later in 2019 as it pursues the development work and finalizes the selection of an engineering and procurement contractor. The waste-to-chemicals project in Rotterdam will be the first of its kind in Europe to provide a sustainable solution for non-recyclable wastes, converting unrecoverable plastics and other mixed waste streams into new raw materials. READ MORE