In December 2009, Enerkem was awarded $50m in funding by the US Department of Energy for development of its planned Mississippi plant. The new funds raised will be used to support Enerkem’s growth plan, including construction of its second plant, in partnership with the City of Edmonton and Alberta Innovates.
Enerkem said that its proprietary thermo-chemical technology helps convert waste materials into biofuels such as ethanol. Its technology is able to process diverse carbon-based feedstocks, including sorted municipal solid waste, construction and demolition wood, and agricultural and forest residues.
The investment in Enerkem complements Waste Management’s services in the areas of recycling, landfill, waste-to-energy and landfill gas-to-energy. This investment will also help move Waste Management toward meeting three of its sustainability goals: doubling its renewable energy production and tripling the amount of recyclables processed by 2020, and investing in emerging technologies for managing waste.
Tim Cesarek, managing director of organic growth at Waste Management, said: “We want to extract more value from the materials we manage than anyone else in our industry through new and emerging processing and conversion technologies.
”Combining Waste Management’s industry leadership and expertise in the collection and management of a wide range of segmented waste streams with Enerkem’s leading clean technology solutions, we are broadening our portfolio of conversion technologies in the waste-to-biofuels market which is key to developing new, higher value added end markets for materials.”
Vincent Chornet, president and CEO of Enerkem, said: “This financing round validates Enerkem’s business and advances our path towards leadership in the waste and advanced fuels markets. The financial and strategic support of these world-class investors, bringing together our existing investors with Waste Management and Cycle Capital, will accelerate the transformation of the waste-to-biofuels industry that Enerkem is marshalling.”
