Apr 17 2014
Enerkem, a waste-to-biofuels and renewable chemicals producer, is proud to announce that its R&D project to convert carbon from industrial waste CO2 and natural gas into chemicals, such as propanol, propionic acid and acrylic acid, has been selected as a finalist in the first round of The Climate Change and Emissions Management Corporation (CCEMC) "Grand Challenge: Innovative Carbon Uses".
The Grand Challenge funds innovative ideas from around the world that will create new, carbon-based products and markets.
The announcement, simultaneously released by CCEMC, was made in Edmonton at ZERO 2014: A Conference for a Low Carbon Future. As a Grand Challenge Round One finalist, Enerkem will receive C$500,000 to further advance its biorefinery technology for the development of green chemicals from waste streams. Finalists were selected from 344 submissions from 37 countries on six continents.
"We are incredibly proud to be recognized for our innovations and their commercial applications. This R&D project is a good example of the full potential of our technology to produce chemicals, in addition to biofuels, by chemically recycling waste streams," said Vincent Chornet, President and CEO of Enerkem. "We are pleased to be in the esteemed company of the other Grand Challenge finalists and believe that together we can transform the way communities around the world take on climate change and reduce greenhouse gas emissions."
Since 2010, the CCEMC has committed to fund more than 80 projects that have a combined value of $1.6 billion. They are estimated to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by approximately 10 megatonnes by 2020, with additional emissions reductions as technology is commercialized and deployed. A reduction of 10 megatonnes in greenhouse gas emissions is enough to take about 2 million cars off the road.
"The CCEMC is pleased to support Enerkem in their leading efforts to develop a cost-effective technology to convert carbon dioxide into syngas and chemicals using catalytic conversion, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the process," said CCEMC Chair Eric Newell.
Source: http://www.enerkem.com/