For immediate release May 8, 2024
VANCOUVER, BC – In an important step toward full commercialization, Highbury Energy Inc. (Highbury) is pleased to announce a study to replace natural gas in an energy-intensive pulp mill process with Highbury medium BTU renewable fuel gas (RFG).
Highbury will be conducting a comprehensive Techno-economic Analysis (TEA) and Front-End Engineering Design (FEED) to prove the economic and environmental viability of seamlessly replacing natural gas with Highbury RFG in a kraft pulp mill lime kiln and power boiler located at West Fraser Mills Ltd.’s (West Fraser) Cariboo Pulp and Paper Mill in Quesnel, BC.
“This project study serves as the blueprint for the commercial scale-up of our advanced technology platform,” says Highbury CEO Len Bykowski. “If successful, it will be a pioneering move in the forest industry to convert waste biomass into renewable fuels – while helping to promote fuel-switching in other industries to further curtail carbon emissions.”
Highbury was founded in 2008 by its award-winning CTO, Dr. Paul Watkinson, Professor Emeritus and former head of the UBC Chemical and Biological Engineering department.
Highbury’s disruptive and ultra-efficient dual fluidized bed steam gasifier process extracts hydrogen, carbon monoxide and methane from waste woody biomass to produce a low-carbon-intensity renewable fuel gas. Developed over six years of meticulous testing and demonstration in an enhanced pilot plant at the University of British Columbia, the process is protected by three patents and 19 proprietary white papers but has yet to be implemented on a full commercial demonstration scale.
The Cariboo Pulp and Paper Mill TEA and FEED study aim to further validate and independently confirm the technical, economic and environmental benefits of displacing large quantities of natural gas used by the pulp mills and other industries with the unique RFG produced by the Highbury process.
Highbury has additionally developed a cost-competitive pathway for the scale-up and upgrading of RFG from biomass to low-carbon-intensity renewable transportation fuels including diesel, naphtha and sustainable aviation fuel.
For media inquiries contact: Colbert Creative Communication Inc., (604) 681-5386 or jcolbert@colbertcreative.com.