In Canada, Steeper Energy has received a $3m grant from the Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC) office. This funding is to be used for the development of an Industrial Scale Pilot Plant to commercialize its proprietary hydrofaction biomass-to-liquids technology platform.
The SDTC funds will assist in the completion of Steeper Energy’s 100 barrel per day Industrial Scale Demonstration Project. The plant will be co-located with the Daishowa Marubeni International (DMI) Alberta Peace River pulp mill and will demonstrate the commercial operability of the technology while providing an alternate and sustainable technology for DMI to convert waste biomass at its existing site. Future commercial plants will range from 2,000 to 5,000 barrels per day.
Hydrofaction economically converts a variety of forestry residues or agricultural (non-food) waste to a petroleum equivalent renewable fuel oil. Based on a high pressure/temperature process or supercritical water chemistry, the produced oil is suitable as liquid fuel for large compression engines for electricity generation as well as rail or marine propulsion, or can be upgraded using hydrogenation into renewable diesel and jet fuel. The technology is a net water producer (no water consumed) and achieves a feedstock-to-oil energy recovery efficiency of more than 80 percent, making it highly sustainable and economical.
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