Enerkem To Build Cellulosic Ethanol Plant, Go Public

Montreal-based Enerkem will construct a commercial-scale cellulosic ethanol plant in Varennes, Quebec, with the help of a $27 million grant from the Quebec government. The facility will be built and operated by a joint venture of Enerkem and GreenField Ethanol, a Canadian corn ethanol producer, and will have an annual ethanol capacity of 10 million gal. Its raw material will be waste from the institutional, commercial, and industrial sectors and from construction and demolition. Enerkem is building similar plants in Edmonton, Alberta, and Pontotoc, Miss. Separately, the company filed for an initial public offering of stock intended to raise up to $125 million. In its filing with the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission, Enerkem says its thermochemical syngas-to-ethanol technology has low-temperature, -pressure, and -energy requirements that reduce operating and capital costs.