An attendee to a sod-turning ceremony snaps a picture of a sign announcing the commencement of Cielo's "renewable diesel" processing facility east of Dunmore at the corner of Highway 41 and the Trans-Canada Highway.--News Photo Collin Gallant
cgallant@medicinehatnews.com@CollinGallant
Cielo Waste Solutions and a local investors group turned sod Thursday at the site of “renewable diesel” refinery it plans to build in 2022.
The site is near the junction of Highway 41 North and the Trans-Canada Highway, next to the Canadian Pacific mainline.
It would be the first full-scale new refinery for the partnership formed three years ago and has since expanded plans to 40 sites in North America to produce vehicle and jet fuel out of garbage.
“Anything you can eat or burn, we can use,” Don Allan, president of Cielo told a group of dignitaries, officials and about 100 current or potential investors at a light luncheon at the Cypress Centre prior to the sod turning just east of Dunmore.
“But we don’t burn anything, there are no emissions from our plant. Our goal is to be the greenest company on the planet.”
A presentation states combining organic material – wood chips, ag byproduct, foodwaste, plastic – is mixed with a patented chemical catalyst then heated using preferably renewable electricity, then distilled and de-sulpherized. The result, says Allan, is premium bio-diesel that can be blended to meet emissions standards while eliminating a backlog of plastic and other solid waste.
That improves the margin on biodiesel, which is a required additive to traditional fuel in Canada, where little domestic production exists.
A main feedstock at the Dunmore facility will be ground-up rail ties, but Allan says early negotiations are “underway” with recyclers and landfill operators in “Medicine Hat and surrounding communities.”
In April, Renewable U head Ryan Jackson said the $50-million facility could employ 40 full-time staff and produce 83-million litres of fuel at full capacity from 163,000 tonnes of hard-to-recycle material.
Ag Minister Devin Dreeshen, Finance Minister Travis Toews, MLA Michaela Glasgo and MP Glen Motz also spoke at the presentation and ceremonial ground breaking, each calling the endeavour a signal of Alberta ingenuity.
“When major investment projects choose the region it shows the potential that is here,” said Glasgo.
First announced in 2018, Renewable U investment group led by local businessman Ryan Jackson bought territorial franchise rights to build the refinery, most recently estimated to cost $50 million.
That will be operated by Cielo, financed in equal parts by the two companies, and earn profits on a sliding scale until initial capital investment is paid back.
Cielo will spend 2021 expanding a prototype refinery it operates in Aldersyde, near High River, while planning takes place at Dunmore. Construction would shift here in early 2022, and a commercial operational date was stated as March 2023.
Cielo, which was listed on the Toronto Venture Exchange last month, announced this spring it had a deal to acquire land in Fort Saskatchewan to build a company-owned facility. It is also planning facilities near Calgary. Renewable U holds a number of territorial rights in Canada and one in the United States.
Locally, Cielo signed an initial deal to acquire ties from the railroad for several years, and site plans displayed Thursday show five new spur lines to bring in feedstock and ship product.
A grinding facility will be included and the refinery itself should appear like a tank farm, officials say. It accepts dry waste to avoid potential odour problems, and will be scalable. Initially three refinery units would be built near Dunmore, then potentially three more to scale up production as needed.
“It will be a very busy place,” said Allan. “Once Dunmore 1 is complete, we plan to have one complete every three months. That’s aggressive, but that’s the plan.”
