Biocarbon/renewable natural gas project coming to Quebec

CHAR Technologies Ltd. has announced it will deploy a high temperature pyrolysis system (HTP) located near a biomass power plant in Saint-Félicien, Que.

The facility will produce approximately 5,000 tonnes per year of biocarbon and 250,000 GJ/yr of renewable natural gas (RNG), for which CHAR has received a letter of interest from the local natural gas utility.

“We are excited to join the collaborative and forward-looking MRC du Domaine-du-Roy through the CVB to deploy CharTech Solutions’ leading HTP system in Québec and help position the Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean region as a leader in advanced biomass processes,” says Andrew White, CEO of CHAR.

The project will be phased, producing biocarbon for metallurgical and carbon credit generation first, to allow for a more rapid deployment and shorter time to initial revenue.

The CHAR facility will leverage the existing biomass handling and processing equipment operated for the Centre de Valorisation de la Biomasse du Domaine-du-Roy (CVB) in Saint-Félicien, which allows for significant overall project capital savings. The CVB is a public-private consortium between the local municipality (the MRC du Domaine-du-Roy), the Société de Cogénération de Saint-Félicien (SCSF, owned by Greenleaf Power) and CharTech Solutions (CHAR’s 100 per cent wholly-owned subsidiary).

The CVB has been identified by regional political and economic stakeholders as a priority for the development of the forest sector in the region and in Québec. This circular economy project is part of the development orientations of the Government of Québec aimed, among other things, at reducing greenhouse gases and recovering thermal waste.

“We are very enthusiastic about the arrival of CharTech Solutions in Saint-Félicien, since this allows us to take an important step in the development of the biomass recovery project,” says Dino Mili of the SCSF.