CHAR Technologies Ltd. has announced that the Canadian and Ontario governments will invest more than $11.3 million to expand CHAR Technologies' facility in Thorold, Ontario, in order to produce renewable natural gas (RNG) and biocarbon– creating the largest facility of its kind in Canada, and the only RNG facility in the country to exclusively use woody biomass.
Joint funding is being made available through the Natural Resources Canada Investments in Forest Industry Transformation program and Ontario’s Forest Sector Investment and Innovation Program and will be disbursed in installments during the course of construction from early 2023 to 2025.
CHAR's high temperature pyrolysis (HTP) process converts woody biomass into two highly profitable green outputs ready for industrial use while emitting no greenhouse gases. When commercially operational, CHAR’s Thorold facility will convert 75,000 tonnes of woody biomass to simultaneously produce 500,000 gigajoules of RNG and 10,000 tonnes of biocarbon per year.
By providing alternative fuels, the project will directly reduce Ontario’s greenhouse gas emissions by up to 30,000 tonnes each year. Diverting mill by-products from landfill will further avoid and reduce indirect emissions by as much as 30,000 tonnes annually.
“This new facility will produce clean alternative fuels and increase sustainability in the forest sector through new and emerging uses of renewable forest biomass,” said Graydon Smith, Ontario Minister of Natural Resources and Forestry. “Our investment in CHAR Technologies is an investment in Ontario, which will boost productivity, create jobs and support a thriving forest economy that communities throughout the province depend on.”
A report from Frontiers in Energy Research cites that forestry biomass could support more than 15% of energy consumption and produce 20% fewer emissions than fossil fuels. Woody feedstocks can be used for biofuels such as ethanol, but technology and processes are still evolving. The International Energy Agency estimates forest and agricultural biomass can produce nearly 62 billion gallons of ethanol by 2030.
