A growing industrial hub in Northwest Alberta is set to grow a little bigger with the proposed construction of a low-carbon fuel plant.

In late January, the Municipal District of Greenview Council approved a memorandum of understanding with Interprovincial Fuel Solutions Ltd. (IFS) to purchase 200 acres in the Greenview Industrial Gateway (GIG) south of Grande Prairie.

IFS intends spend over $1 billion to construct and operate a petrochemical facility on the site to manufacture synthetic, low-carbon gasoline from natural gas, water, and oxygen. Once built, the facility would produce 12,000 bbls/d of low-carbon synthetic gasoline that meets Canada’s clean fuel standards, which start in 2030. The project is more than double the original plan to produce 5,600 bbls/d of synthetic gasoline.

The synthetic gasoline facility will also produce hydrogen, which will help power operations, while 500,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide generated annually will be captured and permanently stored underground through carbon capture and sequestration (CSS). The company estimates it will use 120 mmcf/d of natural gas feedstock to produce the gasoline.

“Taking locally produced natural gas and upgrading it to gasoline and hydrogen follows the exact vision for the GIG,” MD of Greenview Reeve Tyler Olsen said.

It’s expected that the IFS project will proceed quickly once the final investment decision is reached, and a land purchase agreement signed.

The company says it’s using “typical project evaluation criteria” to make its final decision to proceed, and once that happens, construction will begin in 2025 and be operational in 2026. The planned facility would create an estimated 600 construction jobs and 70 full-time positions once it begins operations.

The company says its gasoline carbon intensity score has been rated at 49.8 measured in grams of carbon dioxide equivalent per megajoule (gCO2e/MJ), compared to conventional oil refinery gasoline at 95 gCO2e/MJ.

GIG executive director Kyle Reiling said there are multiple aquifers capable of handling large volumes of carbon capture and sequestration (CCS), and the province of Alberta has granted three CCS hubs as part of licensing in 2021.  

The 2,000-acre industrial hub is situated in the MD of Greenview, about 40 kilometres south of Grande Prairie. Although it works with the city and the County of Grande Prairie, the MD leads and fully funds the GIG, Reiling says. The industrial park furnishes access to process water, power, rail, and the TC Energy Corporation distribution pipeline.

“The whole concept is based on a European petrochemical model,” said Reiling. “In essence, we will look after the overall servicing concepts and then as the companies come in they will essentially be a player in the development.”

IFS is the third major investor in the GIG, which Reiling says places it on track to become a leading net-zero, eco-industrial development in Alberta for natural gas processing and manufacturing with low-carbon emissions.

In early 2022, the MD of Greenview signed an MOU with Cerilon GTL Inc. to construct a $2.8 billion, low sulphur diesel and jet fuel facility, while in late 2021, it inked an agreement with Northern Petro Chemical Corporation to construct a $2.5 billion blue methanol and blue ammonia production facility.

Reiling said being located in the heart of huge natural gas reserves and linked to road, rail, pipeline, water resources, and sequestration infrastructure makes the GIG a desirable site to manufacture low-carbon products. This in turn offers economic benefits for the region beyond the direct employment opportunities, such as local businesses to providing goods and services for the billion-dollar projects, and revenue for all levels of government.

“We want to see the development of natural gas right at the source, and with these large investments come large amounts of taxes for the municipality for the province, and for the federal government. So, we're extremely excited about the opportunities.”