Waste Management invests in Enerkem to further goals

Waste Management, Inc. and Enerkem Inc. have announced a strategic investment by Waste Management in Enerkem, as part of Enerkem’s new financing round.

The closing of this new round of financing which generated approximately $66.5 million comes from Enerkem’s existing institutional investors, Rho Ventures, Braemar Energy Ventures and BDR Capital as well as from new investors, Waste Management and Cycle Capital. The new funds raised will be used to support Enerkem’s growth plan, including initiating the construction of its second waste-to-biofuels plant.

Enerkem’s thermo-chemical technology helps convert waste materials into biofuels such as ethanol.

“We want to extract more value from the materials we manage than anyone else in our industry through new and emerging processing and conversion technologies,” said Tim Cesarek, managing director of organic growth at Waste Management.

Back in December 2009, Enerkem was awarded $50 million in funding by the United States Department of Energy for the development of its planned Mississippi plant. Its commercial-scale demonstration facility, located in Westbury, Canada, reached more than 1,000 hours of operation.

The new funds raised will be used to support Enerkem’s growth plan, including construction of its second plant, in partnership with the City of Edmonton and Alberta Innovates.

The investment in Enerkem complements Waste Management’s comprehensive waste services in the areas of recycling, landfill, waste-to-energy and landfill gas-to-energy. This investment will also help move Waste Management toward meeting three of its sustainability goals: doubling its renewable energy production and tripling the amount of recyclables processed by 2020, and investing in emerging technologies for managing waste.