Project Avance demonstrates a scalable, cost‑effective path to advanced biofuels by converting forestry residues into refinery‑ready ARC. The pilot campaign met performance targets, showing scientific and operational progress. By leveraging existing pyrolysis and refinery infrastructure, the approach reduces costs, enhances energy security, and proves abundant biomass can deliver viable low‑carbon fuels.
Some milestones are not about asking new questions. They’re about demonstrating that a real pathway to scale is emerging. That is what Project Avance represents.
Through this collaboration with Bioénergie AE Côte-Nord, supported by Boeing, Alder Renewables is advancing a pathway to convert forestry residues into Alder Renewable Crude (ARC), a refinery-ready intermediate designed for co-processing in existing refinery FCC units to produce sustainable aviation fuel and other transportation fuels.
Our latest pilot campaign marks an important step forward for both Alder, the broader industry, and a more secure domestic energy future. Using commercial fast pyrolysis oil produced from Canadian forest residues, the campaign delivered results aligned with Alder’s performance targets and process modeling in a configuration consistent with the commercial engineering design. In other words, the technology is advancing not only scientifically, but operationally toward deployment.
Project Avance is built around a clear objective: enable one of the lowest-cost pathways to advanced biofuels. The approach is intentionally pragmatic:
· Use abundant forestry residues as feedstock rather than relying on the limited supply of fats, oils, and greases used in HEFA fuels.
· Integrate with existing fast pyrolysis assets, enabling bolt-on deployment instead of capital-intensive greenfield facilities.
· Lower utility intensity by using residual low-grade heat from fast pyrolysis and operating with far lower electrical input than electricity-intensive PtL alternatives.
· Leverage existing refinery infrastructure for finished fuel production, reducing total capital investment and integrating into downstream fuel supply systems.
· Strengthen domestic energy security by converting widely available regional biomass into transportation fuels through existing industrial infrastructure.
These structural advantages are designed to drive cost competitiveness. Independent analysis indicates Alder’s pathway could, at full scale, produce drop-in fuels at lower cost than commercial HEFA pathways derived from waste oils.
Project Avance is helping demonstrate that forestry residues, one of the most abundant renewable resources available, can support scalable, secure, and cost-competitive low-carbon fuels while reinforcing long-term energy security.
We’re grateful to the teams and partners helping move this work forward.
Building momentum with technology validation, strategic partnerships, and new projects
Project Avance demonstrates a scalable, cost‑effective path to advanced biofuels by converting forestry residues into refinery‑ready ARC. The pilot campaign met performance targets, showing scientific and operational progress. By leveraging existing pyrolysis and refinery infrastructure, the approach reduces costs, enhances energy security, and proves abundant biomass can deliver viable low‑carbon fuels.
Together with Boeing and Bioénergie AE Côte-Nord, we are launching Project Avance to produce SAF from sawmill residues in Port-Cartier, Québec. Boeing is investing CAD $10 million in the project as part of its Industrial and Technological Benefits commitment to Canada. The project will use Alder’s technology to produce Alder Renewable Crude (ARC) for hydrotreating into SAF and other hydrocarbon fuels.
With NREL and industry partners, Alder has demonstrated that Alder Renewable Crude (ARC) can be co-processed in a pilot Fluid Catalytic Cracking (FCC) unit to produce gasoline, jet, diesel, and marine fuels in high yield and high quality. The next steps under evaluation is commercial-scale FCC trials with industry partners, paving the way for rapid deployment of low-carbon fuels using existing refinery infrastructure.
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