Enerkem scores nearly $3 million from $85 million Canadian energy fund

In Canada, Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced support of more than $82 million through Natural Resources Canada’s ecoENERGY Innovation Initiative (ecoEII) for 55 innovative projects across Canada. Of these, 15 will be pre-commercialization demonstration projects to test the feasibility of various technologies, and 40 will be research and development projects to address knowledge gaps and bring technologies from the conceptual stage to the ready-to-be-tested stage of development.

A big winner is Enerkem, who will receive $2,913,000 to develop and demonstrate a system to convert municipal solid waste into an energy rich gas that can fuel an engine to produce heat and electricity. This renewable form of energy could be used in remote and rural applications, such as northern communities, industries, and mine operations where it could replace the cost of shipping diesel fuel. Once deployed, the technology will reduce greenhouse gas emissions and generate employment in remote and rural communities.