Biogas innovator Himark makes U.S. breakthrough
Firm inks deal with Americans for three plants
At the start, an endless supply of cattle manure from a feedlot near Vegreville fired up Himark’s green power plant to make electricity.
About a year ago, with some modifications, about 200 tons of food waste from Edmonton-area cities was added to the mix, along with slaughterhouse waste.
The dome-topped anaerobic digesters — made-in-Alberta technology — turn it all into a form of natural gas (biogas) that runs electricity generators, enough to light up much of Vegreville.
The company behind this unique technology, Himark Biogas, recently caught the eye of U.S.-based NEO Energy, giving the Alberta founders, Evan and Shane Chrapko and Bern and Mike Kotelko, a breakthrough into the massive market south of the border.
This week, NEO Energyand Himark Biogas announced a deal to build three Alberta-designed anaerobic digesters in the Eastern U.S. to turn food waste from supermarkets and restaurants into biogas for electricity and rich fertilizer.
Evan Chrapko, co-CEO of Himark Biogas, says he is pleased for the company, for the environment and for Alberta’s efforts to develop renewable technology.
“With this deal, we’ll reduce greenhouse gases, get rid of food waste in a clean way and the byproduct, fertilizer, will be used for farming,” Chrapko told the Journal.
Robert Nicholson, president of NEO, came to Alberta to tour the power plant northeast of Edmonton a month ago and found the operations “very impressive.”
He also liked Himark’s “entrepreneurial spirit that matches our company.”
The three new biodigestion plants will be built in Rhode Island and Massachusetts, where new environmental laws require food waste be recycled rather than put in a landfill, said Nicholson.
The Alberta company will provide the specialized design and be involved in construction which will take up to a year, said Nicholson.
NEO Energy is part of the Tavistock Group, a private investment company based in the Bahamas.
When they launched this manure-to-power venture, the four Alberta partners had plans to build a string of six manure-powered electricity plants across the cattle-abundant prairies.
Farmers need a cleaner, better way to handle manure and every province needs a way to reduce greenhouse gases with renewable energy, said Chrapko.
Also, renewable energy from manure is more reliable than wind and solar which are intermittent, he added.
But business plans are evolving differently than expected, he said, partly because Canada is a tough sell even for its own new technologies and has not taken an aggressive stance to reduce its greenhouse gases.
Himark has visited China and Pakistan and Chrapko will head to Indonesia next.
These are countries looking for better ways handle waste and get green power, said Chrapko.
Meanwhile, plans for a bio-waste energy centre — or “technology cluster” — are well underway near the Vegreville power plant and are getting lots of interest from companies from the United Kingdom, Vietnam and the U.S., said Chrapko.
“There are a few private jets landing at the Vegreville airport,” he said.
The BECii Clean Energy centre includes a laboratory and industrial sites, and aims to bring green energy technologies together and help them get to market, he said.
A key component already on the site is Himark’s $50-million ethanol plant, built in 2012, which is run with the manure-powered electricity, giving the ethanol a carbon footprint that’s among the lowest in the world.
The ethanol, made from low-grade wheat, is purchased by Suncor to add to gasoline to meet the province’s five-per-cent ethanol requirement. The waste from the ethanol process is turned into cattle feed.
The Alberta Research Council played a key role in helping to develop the green power technology. After a two-year negotiation over licensing issues, the Chrapko and Kotelko brothers acquired dozens of patents and put the technology into commercial operation.