Cielo Waste Solutions brings facility back online

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada-based Cielo Waste Solutions says it has brought its waste conversion plant in Aldersyde, Alberta, Canada, back online “following an extended shutdown to allow for the implementation of upgrades.”

The company says in mid-August it began “recommissioning the facility after installing newly designed equipment and implementing modifications to the flow process recommended by third-party engineers.”

“The operation of the feedstock hoppers, the reacting tower and the waste line have all been updated. Management expects to soon run both the distillate front end as well as the back end (which converts the distillate into renewable fuels) together and on a continuous flow basis,” the firm says.

“We feel this is great news for Cielo and all of our shareholders, supporters and believers,” says Don Allan, president and CEO of Cielo. “We are appreciative of their support, trust and patience. Startups like this are never easy, but with the fortitude and tireless efforts of our team, we are confident that very shortly our facility will finally be producing commercial quantities of renewable fuels.”

Allan says Cielo remains committed to its plan “to build multiple facilities to help reduce the amount of garbage that is currently going into landfills. Cielo’s facilities are modular and are being engineered to be scaled so that they can be quickly built and placed on production not only in Canada but globally.”

Cielo built the Aldersyde facility in 2018, putting into production in late June that year. The company has reached agreements to potentially build plants in other Canadian cities, but says on its website its “near-term focus remains on getting our first continuous flow refinery into revenue at Aldersyde.”

The company describes its technology as being able to convert feedstocks including municipal solid waste (MSW), compost, plastic, tires, sawdust and wood into “high-quality renewable diesel and aviation/marine fuel.”

Cielo says its technology, developed in conjunction with a related party, uses a low temperature and atmospheric pressure process combined with a proprietary catalyst to convert cellulosic waste streams into the finished fuel products.