The Canadian Press: Ensyn, Tolko team on plant in Alberta to extract pyrolysis oil from biomass

Ensyn Technologies Inc. and Tolko Industries Ltd. announce the formation of a partnership Monday to build world's largest commercial plant to extract a kind of oil from biomass that can be used in heating and electricity.

The joint venture, High North BioResources Limited Partnership, will build and operate a plant in High Level, Alta., designed to turn 400 bone dry tonnes of biomass per day into 85 million litres of pyrolysis oil annually.

The pyrolysis oil will be used at Tolko's sawmill at High Level.

The facility will also be capable of producing a renewable resin ingredient that can be used in the manufacture of wood panel products.

Cost of the project was not disclosed.

Ottawa-based Ensyn Technologies is a world leader in fast pyrolysis and the production of pyrolysis oil from forestry and agricultural biomass.

In 2008, it formed a joint venture called Envergent Technologies with UOP, a Honeywell company, to deploy Ensyn's technology globally as well as to develop a complementary technology to convert pyrolysis oil into transportation fuels.

"This partnership is a strategic fit for Tolko's existing business," company's president and CEO Brad Thorlakson said in a news release.

"It is an example of transformative innovation that can benefit the forest products industry and the environment. Ensyn is clearly the world leader in fast pyrolysis technology; additionally, this project will benefit from the involvement of Envergent Technologies, Ensyn's joint venture with Honeywell's UOP."

Tolko, a private, Canadian-owned forest products company, is a major producer and marketer of lumber, veneer, plywood, oriented strand board and kraft papers, with manufacturing operations across Western Canada.

Read the original article.