Lacombe may eventually become a world leader in reducing carbon emissions.  On Thursday, October 15th, Minister of Environment and Parks, Jason Nixon and other local dignitaries announced that the city will be constructing a new biorefinery.

“Today I'm proud to mark another step in our TIER fund investment to support leading edge Alberta-made technologies right here in Lacombe. Alberta is going to use $10,000,000 from the TIER fund to help build a $45,000,000 clean energy and organic fertilizer facility,” said Minister of Environment and Parks, Jason Nixon.

Enbridge Gas has matched provincial funding with an additional $10 million investment.  

Up to 80 jobs will be supported by the biorefinery’s construction, and 25 full-time operating jobs will be supported in Lacombe and Calgary. The new facility will begin construction 2021 and will be operating by 2022.

Lacombe’s biorefinery will transform agriculture and food waste into high value products such as fertilizers and natural gas.  

“The Lacombe Biorefinery will have large tanks, called anaerobic digesters that will be used to create biogas from these organic wastes. Then, this gas will be upgraded into pipeline quality natural gas but in this case, it's all made from renewable resources,” explained Chris Thrall, President and CEO of BioRefinex Canada Inc.

Thrall said the biorefinery would not have been possible without Eric Schmidt their Executive Chairman and Chief Science Officer, who has been working to address the problems in the landfill for many years.

Thrall looks forward to bringing the technology to a community that has a rich agriculture background.

“This is a great place to do business and it's an excellent location for us to be working with the agriculture community in the central Alberta region,”added Thrall.

Nixon said the Lacombe Biorefinery will be the first of its kind in the world.

“When fully operational, this facility will reduce 40,000 tons of emissions every year. That's the same as taking 8500 cars off the road. There's a lot to be excited about. The Lacombe Biorefinery will be the first facility in the world to fully apply BioRefinex thermal hydrolysis technology,” said Nixon.

The technology has also been certified globally from the world’s top scientists in 180 countries.

The new facility is a bold addition to Alberta’s Recovery Plan. It will be located on the East side of Lacombe just off of Range Road 264.

[L-R] Steve MacDonald, CEO of Emissions Reduction Alberta; Grant Creasey, Mayor of the City of Lacombe; Ron Orr, Member of the Legislative Assembly for Lacombe-Ponoka; Jason Nixon, Minister of Environment and Parks; Chris Thrall, president and CE of, BioRefinex Canada Inc. Photo courtesy of the City of Lacombe.