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Millar Western to get $6.75m for bio-energy

The funding is part of Natural Resources Canada’s Investments in Forest Industry Transformation (IFIT) program. Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver announced last week at the COFI convention in Prince George, B.C. that a total of $19.5 million is being handed out to five projects in Western Canada.

Funding for the $42 million facility comes from a partnership of the federal government, the provincial government and Millar Western, who kicked in $6.75, $17.5 and $17.75 million, respectively.

“The funding comes because it’s using really innovative technology that may be of use all over Canada,”  Janet Millar, communications co-ordinator at Millar Western told the Whitecourt Star. “We’re helping to encourage a more competitively strong forestry industry, while achieving really important environmental ends as well.”

The facility will create green energy in the pulp mill effluent stream by removing more organic material from the effluents stream which will be converted into a bio-gas, Millar said.

After conditioning, the bio-gas will be used to fuel reciprocating engines, to generate 5.2 megawatts of renewable energy for use by the company’s pulp operations.

She said there are many benefits to the project including a significant improvement in Millar Westerns’ environmental initiatives, reducing costs by cutting their purchased electricity by 10 per cent and natural gas by 11 per cent and reducing the costs of their existing effluent removal system.

It will also cut greenhouse gas emissions directly associated with on-site production by 17 per cent.

The expected start-up is in January 2014.

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