Steeper Energy Canada and City of Calgary to work on city’s sewage conversion to biofuel

In Canada, The City of Calgary and Steeper Energy Canada Ltd. signed a new cooperation agreement, by way of an MoU, to transform city sewage sludge and other urban generated bio-organic wastes for the production of sustainable biofuels such as renewable diesel or jet fuel.

The MoU formalizes the intent of The City and Steeper Energy to see the development of a demonstration plant at the Pine Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant in South-East Calgary. The City has agreed to host Steeper Energy at its state-of-the-art wastewater treatment plant, as well as to supply a small portion of Calgary’s primary and secondary sewage sludge to produce advanced biofuels, such as renewable diesel or jet fuel, via Steeper’s proprietary Hydrofaction technology.

The proposed project will be a collaborative effort towards sustainable practices, the elimination of contaminants contained in sewage sludge, such as spent pharmaceuticals and microplastics, as well as advancing cleantech in Calgary. Upon concluding final arrangements with The City and the approval from Steeper’s board of directors, the project could break ground in early 2021.

The City and Steeper Energy have the shared objective of serving the public interest through:

• Accelerating the transition to a Circular Economy – building economic, natural, and social capital
• The production of renewable transportation fuels by recovering the inherent energy in wastewater and household green-bin wastes via Hydrofaction®
• Addressing the complex land and water pollution issues associated with spent biosolids, while recovering valuable minerals such as phosphorus and nitrogen
• Increasing investment in sustainable transport fuels in/for the City of Calgary while leveraging local expertise and creating employment opportunities