Enerkem Begins Production of Small-Scale Second-Generation Ethanol Plant in Quebec

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Privately held Enerkem Incorporated (Montreal, Quebec) recently completed start-up and production from its small-scale second-generation ethanol plant in Westbury, Quebec.

It will be one of the world's first ethanol plants using negative-cost treated utility poles for feedstock. The plant will use the company's thermo-chemical process technology to produce 1.3 million gallons of ethanol annually. One ton of the material can produce 95 gallons of fuel ethanol.

The poles are dried, sorted and shredded, and fed into a high-temp gasification system that converts carbon residues into synthetic gas. The gas is cleaned and conditioned and goes through catalytic reactors where the gas is converted into liquid fuel ethanol. The technology allows for a wide variety of raw materials besides utility poles, such as municipal solid waste, agricultural residues like bagasse and corn stover and forest waste.

Construction started on the plant in October 2007 and was mechanically competed in late December. The company has moved into the start-up phase and is now producing ethanol.

Enerkem is also involved with Canadian ethanol producer GreenField Ethanol (Toronto, Ontario) on a second-generation fuel-ethanol plant under development in Edmonton, Alberta. This estimated $70 million plant is expected to have a commercial scale capacity of 9.5 million gallons per year of fuel when it goes online in July 2010.

Industrial Info's Ethanol Database provides a comprehensive outline of all current development activities in the emerging alternative fuels market. This database covers 177 ethanol plants in operation and 530 plants under development. It also covers 145 operational biodiesel plants and 245 biodiesel plants under development.

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