Canary Biofuels acquires biodiesel assets in California, starts producing in Alberta
Calgary, Alberta, Canada-based Canary Biofuels has acquired the assets of Community Fuels, including its 10-million-gallon-per-year (mgy) biodiesel production facility in Port of Stockton, California, and a dedicated fuel terminal that can receive biodiesel and renewable diesel by rail and truck.
Founded in 2021, Canary Biofuels first made headlines when it acquired a biodiesel plant in Lethbridge, Alberta, formerly owned by Invigor BioEnergy.
The acquisition of Community Fuels’ assets in California was completed earlier this year, but Canary Biofuels has not made any announcements about the deal and has chosen to remain quiet about the transaction.
“We’re very excited to have a terminal position in California,” Kavanagh Mannas, vice president of corporate development, told Biobased Diesel Daily. “We see the ability to sell renewable fuels out of a terminal that we operate [in California] as being very important for a small producer.”
Mannas said the 10 mgy plant in Port of Stockton is not currently producing biodiesel fuel though. Canary Biofuels is evaluating engineering and retrofit options to increase efficiency, throughput and capacity.
“Expanding our footprint in biodiesel by 50 percent is quite meaningful for us,” Mannas said. “In Lethbridge, we focus on agricultural waste feedstock, including beef tallow, poultry fat, canola oil and corn oil whereas in California we are surrounded by used cooking oil. With our strong, advantaged feedstocks, we are taking a true multifeedstock approach.”
Meanwhile, the former Invigor BioEnergy plant in Lethbridge, Alberta, has begun production of biodiesel. Canary Biofuels retooled the 20 mgy plant with multifeedstock technology and a distillation unit, using funds from the provincial government of Alberta to help with the project.
Canary Biofuels completed commissioning of the biodiesel plant in Alberta throughout the second and third quarters of this year, Mannas said.
“We have moved out of the commissioning phase and now we are focusing on operational efficiency,” he said, adding that the company has been pleased so far with the opportunities that multifeedstock capabilities afford the newly restarted facility, even with the project’s short history.
Canary Biofuels is also constructing a canola-crush facility located at the Lethbridge biodiesel plant site in Alberta. The crush plant will have the ability to process 60,000 tons of canola per year.
“That project is ongoing,” Mannas told Biobased Diesel Daily. “We are excited to integrate upstream with our suppliers and downstream with our terminal [in California].”
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