Construction of the Cote Nord biocrude production facility starts in Quebec

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Construction has been initiated on a 10.5 million gallon (approximately, 40 Ml) per year biocrude production facility located in Port-Cartier (Quebec). The beginning of the works for the Cote Nord project, a biorefinery that will produce pyrolysis oil from forest residues, was announced by Ensyn on July 13th (see press release). The project is being developed by Ensyn, Arbec Forest Products Inc. and Groupe Rémabec and is located adjacent to an Arbec’s sawmill on the north shore of the St. Lawrence Seaway. The facility is scheduled to be complete by the end of 2017 and is the first of several plants being developed by Ensyn to expand the production of biocrude for energy applications.

The Government of Canada suppors the project through a $27-million investment from Sustainable Development Technology Canada and $17.5 million from Natural Resources Canada’s Investments in Forest Industry Transformation program. For its part, the Government of Quebec contributes $32 million to the project, including $10 million from Investissement Québec. In March 2016, to ensure the fibre supply, the Quebec Ministry of Forests, Wildlife and Parks reserved 170,000 green tonnes of residues from government forests for the plant.

Utilizing Ensyn’s proprietary RTP® technology, the plant will convert approximately 65,000 dry metric tons per year of slash and other forest residues from local sources to biocrude. This product will be sold to customers in the Northeastern US and in Eastern Canada for heating purposes and as a feedstock for petroleum refineries to produce green transportation fuels. The RTP conversion unit is being engineered by Envergent Technologies LLC, a joint venture between Ensyn and Honeywell UOP.

Figure 1. Simplified RTP process flow diagram

The RTP process efficiently converts a wide range of woody biomass feedstocks (hardwoods and softwoods, forest residues and agricultural residues) to valuable liquid fuels and chemicals. It is based on the rapid thorough contact of hot flowing sand with biomass, which quickly fragments the solid feedstock into vapors, gases and char.  The vapors are rapidly quenched and recovered as a light biocrude, while the gases and char flow together to a second vessel where the sand is reheated and recirculated back to the conversion unit.  Heat is recovered from the gas and char and used to supply heat for various units of the RTP process. The by-product gas is used as a fuel for complementary applications such as biomass drying or electrical power generation, whereas the char is typically consumed in its entirety in the reheater to provide the heat required to drive the process. The RTP process does not require expensive complex catalyst systems, hydrogen or high pressure. These factors, coupled with very short processing time, translate to attractive capital and operating costs.

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