Waste to Energy Symposium

The Recycling Council of Alberta hosted a full-day symposium on Waste to Energy (WtE) in partnership with the Alberta Plastics Recycling Association.

WtE technologies are in operation around the world and include thermal treatment technologies such as gasification and pyrolysis, biological systems and waste to fuels. But how do these technologies work and what are the economic and environmental implications for managing waste? What role does WtE have as we try to build a Circular Economy and promote reduction and recycling in Alberta?

The first part of the symposium provided attendees with an overview of the different technologies from leading global WtE experts. Also featured were speakers from Environment Canada and an overview on compliance for WtE facilities in Alberta from Alberta Environment and Parks.

The second part of the symposium featured brief presentations from WtE companies currently operating in Alberta.

Attendees developed a greater understanding of how these technologies work and the opportunities and challenges of local implementation.

The symposium was held on Thursday, March 12, 2020 from 8:30 am to 3:30 pm
at the Dow Centennial Centre in Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta

RCA/APRA members*: $250/person
Non-members: $300/person

Click on the speaker name to download their presentation:

8:30 am	Welcome and Introductions
8:45 am	A Federal Perspective on Thermal Treatment Technologies – Matt Hamilton (Environment Canada)
9:15 am	Defining Thermal Treatment Technologies – Dr. David Maunder (GHD)
10:00 am	Break
10:15 am	Introduction to Gasification and Pyrolysis – Steve Jenkins (Energy & Chemicals Consulting, LLC)
11:45 am	Todd Baker (Morrison Hershfield)
12:30 pm	Lunch
1:00 pm	Compliance and Approval Requirements for WtE – Rick Phaneuf P.Eng. (AEP)
1:30 pm	WtE Proponent Presentations – Paul Ryan (SAEWA) – Patricia McConkey (Project Mountain Inc.) – Stuart McCormick (Cielo Waste Solutions Corp.) – Kim Caron (Executive Mat Group of Companies / Eco-Growth Environmental Inc.) – Jasper van de Wetering (Lehigh Cement, a division of Lehigh Hanson Materials Limited) – David Lynch (Enerkem Inc) – Marlon Lee (Fogdog Energy)
3:30 pm	Closing Remarks

Todd Baker

Todd Baker, P.Eng., is a senior environmental engineer with close to 25 years’ of experience in solid waste management, solid waste planning and facility design. Todd’s experience includes landfill design, preparation of solid waste management plans and master plans, cost modeling for waste management alternatives, greenhouse gas accounting and technology options assessments. Todd has been involved in several waste-to-energy technology review and option assessment projects for clients throughout Western Canada. This includes assessing the feasibility and associated long-term costs of implementing small and large-scale technologies in the Comox Strathcona Waste Management Service area which spans across two regions on Vancouver Island. He is currently the project manager for the design and construction of the new Coquitlam Transfer Station for Metro Vancouver.

Matt Hamilton

Matt has over 20 years of engineering and management experience, focused mainly on municipal solid waste. For the past 12 years, he has been with Environment and Climate Change Canada, leading waste management and pollution prevention programs. Prior to that, Matt worked for the City of Ottawa, and as an engineering consultant in Canada and the US.

Steve Jenkins

Steve Jenkins has 44 years of experience in the process chemical and power industries, with a specialization in permitting, engineering, design, and operation of gasification facilities using coal, pet coke, biomass, biosolids, municipal solid waste and blends, for generating electricity and for producing chemicals, gaseous and liquid fuels, and ammonia-based fertilizers. Steve has worked on multiple projects around the world, using feedstocks as small as 50 lbs/hr of biomass and as large as 10,000 tons/day of coal, producing a wide range of downstream products. More recently, he has focused on biomass and municipal solid waste gasification projects, and has prepared detailed solid waste conversion technology studies for municipalities and regions in the USA and Canada. He is well-known in the industry for his “Introduction to Gasification” workshops, which he has given dozens of times at conferences and to various academic, regulatory, environmental advocacy and legal groups.

Dr. David Maunder

David is a Technical Director in the international engineering and environmental consultancy organisation, GHD. He is based in the UK, working closely with colleagues in Canada and elsewhere around the world. For much of the last 30 years, David’s principal area of work has been in ‘waste to energy’ (WtE) and wider bioenergy. He has strong knowledge of a wide range of energy conversion technologies, including established combustion processes, biological conversion, gasification, and pyrolysis. David also has a thorough appreciation of the key commercial and technical risks in WtE projects, and of wider project development themes such as environmental regulations and the over-arching policy instruments that often influence project commercial viability. Through his career, he has worked in capital project development, in manufacturing industry, in policy support for governments, and in the management of research, development and demonstration programmes. David is a long-standing member of the UK Institution of Mechanical Engineers’ Renewable Power Committee, and has previously sat on the British Standards committee on solid recovered fuels.

Rick Phaneuf

Rick Phaneuf graduated from the University of Saskatchewan with a degree in Chemical Engineering. He worked for 15 years in the mining and petroleum industries. His work in the mining industry introduced him to process control including quality assurance. During his time working with petroleum he was a process engineer in upstream oil and gas dealing with construction and operation of gas processing systems. He later moved into the downstream side of petroleum working in a prairie refinery once again as a process engineer. During the time as a process engineer in private industry, he often was responsible for pollution abatement.

He has been with the Government of Alberta for nearly 30 years taking on roles in compliance, approvals, strategic direction and policy. He started preparing enforcement documents and working toward consistent and enforceable approval documents. He moved into the investigation side of compliance for a period. He spent the next phase of his career as an approval coordinator responsible for about 100 authorizations in a regional office administering the environmental legislation. Later he moved into strategic direction where he was part of a team creating and readying documents and processes to change the regulatory scheme.

His current position is a technology specialist in the policy area. The work entails reviewing new and emerging technology and its application in Alberta.

 

Proponent Bios:

Kim Caron

Live: Cochrane, Alberta
Married: 31 years – 2 children active in the family business

University Calgary – BA Economics

President / Owner: Executive Mat Group of Companies
Founded: Executive Mat Service Ltd – 1996
CDF-Systems Inc.
Eco-Growth Environmental

Business Awards:
Small Business of the Year
Top 20 Business Leaders Calgary
Entrepreneur of the Year (E&Y finalist)
Emerald Award Recipient (Environmental Innovation)

Marlon Lee

Mr. Lee is a technology entrepreneur, investor, IT Specialist, SAIT Graduate and an advocate for
Green Energy. He is one of the founders of Fogdog Energy, CEO, and President of InvasiveAI; an upcoming AI product for fighting invasive species. His mission is to pioneer new directions and find innovative ways by using and developing technology to deliver valuable services. Marlon has over 20 years in information technology and developing services for top Canadian corporations and Fortune 500 companies for a wide variety of industries with a focus in Waste Management Solutions and Waste to Energy business models. He has spent over 15 years working and consulting with a large waste technology company, developing different waste projects internationally.

He is actively involved in developing certification guidelines and program for Environmental Assessments, Carbon Footprinting, Marketing Services and Webinars that are committed to Green Initiatives. A relentless individual that positively pursues complex projects. A dynamic professional combining strong business acumen with a proven track record of success in delivering in a competitive industry sectors with proven experience within complex social, technical and government environments.

David Lynch

David Lynch, General Manager, Research and Development, Enerkem Inc.

At Enerkem, Mr. Lynch manages pilot integration and testing that has provided data-driven support for Enerkem’s commercial process design. Mr. Lynch orchestrated the bench scale development of Enerkem’s methanol-to-ethanol process and has established pilot and laboratory facilities in Edmonton, AB.

Mr. Lynch is an Energy Futures Lab Fellow building on more than 25 years of industry experience, where he advanced development and scale up of various new products and manufacturing processes.

He holds a Master of Science degree in Management of Technology from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry from Fairfield University.

Patricia McConkey

Patricia McConkey has worked in the waste industry for the past 15 years, working closely with all levels of government and industry. Prior to that she held a number of executive positions with environmental responsibilities for EPCOR, Calgon Carbon Corporation, Terra Tea Inc and more. She has a background in marketing and business development with a Master of Business Administration from Queen’s University.

Stuart McCormick

Professional Engineer and business consultant with more than 32 years of experience in engineering and science, technology and innovation, safe operations, business strategy and planning, project management, sales and marketing, financial analysis, people leadership, and capital allocation. Currently acting as VP – Projects and Regulatory Affairs for Cielo Waste Solutions Corp., an emerging leader in renewable fuels.

Paul Ryan

Councillor Paul Ryan is the Treasurer for the Calgary Region Airshed Zone, serves the Municipal District of Bighorn as Chairman of the Municipal Excellence Committee, the Municipal Planning Commission, the Assessment Appeal Board, the Bighorn Corridor Environment Committee, Chairman of the Bow Valley Waste Management Commission, and Vice-Chairman/Project Lead for the Southern Alberta Energy from Waste Association.

Jasper van de Wetering

Jasper van de Wetering is the Alternative Resources and CO2 Reduction Manager for Lehigh Cement, a division of Lehigh Hanson Materials Limited and part of the Heidelberg Cement Group. Jasper obtained a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Chemistry in 1988 and then embarked on an 11 year career as an Environmental Analytical Chemist in Vancouver, BC. Jasper joined the Heidelberg Cement Group in 1999, as the Plant Chemist at what was then known as the Tilbury Cement plant in Delta, BC. Jasper held various positions at the Delta Plant until 2006 when he was took on the role of Operation Manager at Heidelberg Cement’s Padeswood Plant in Wales, UK. Upon his return to Delta in 2008, Jasper became the Environment Manager and, in 2013 earned a Master’s of Science Degree in Environment and Management from Royal Roads University. After another short stint as Production Manager at the Delta Plant, Jasper took on his current role in 2018.