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CN Rail lining up pilot plant partners to make oilsands bitumen pucks

Dec 29, 2018 | 6:11 PM

CALGARY – Canadian National Railway Co. says it is planning to build a pilot plant worth up to $50 million next year to create pucks made of oilsands bitumen to transport by rail and ships to customers around the world.

CN has been working for years on a technology that mixes and coats the heavy, sticky oil with polymer plastic, creating a pellet-shaped product called CanaPux that can be shipped in an open rail car and will float if spilled into water.

James Cairns, vice-president of petroleum and chemicals at CN, says the railway is in discussions with the federal and Alberta governments, along with potential oilsands industry partners and the Heart Lake First Nation of northern Alberta, to fund the 10,000-barrel-per-day pilot plant.

Canapux from CN on Vimeo.