ZETON DELIVERS SUSTAINABLE BIO-OIL PRODUCTION PLANT TO ARBIOS BIOTECH IN PRINCE GEORGE, BC
May 26, 2025
Set in the traditional lands of the Lheidli T’enneh First Nation at the confluence of the Fraser and Nechako Rivers in British Columbia’s northern capital of Prince George, lies the Chuntoh Ghuna facility, a large-scale sustainable bio-oil production facility. Developed by Arbios Biotech, the Chuntoh Ghuna facility (pronounced Chan-toh Hannah, meaning “the forest lives”) confirms Arbios’ leadership in the commercialization of sustainable bio-oil production. Arbios is a joint venture of two organizations with a shared vision: hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) technology leader, Licella ( www.licella.com ) and global sustainable forestry products company Canfor ( www.canfor.com ).
Arbios approached Zeton in late October 2020 for a strategy on Modular Constructability for a large scale commercial sustainable bio-oil production facility. This facility that would come to be known as the Chuntoh Ghuna Facility would utilize Licella’s Cat-HTRTM HTL technology to transform forest residues and other woody residuals into a renewable bio-oil that can be refined into renewable transportation fuels with a low carbon footprint.
Arbios and Zeton worked throughout the COVID-19 pandemic to engineer and design the main unit’s process modules. Zeton worked to incorporate various design elements and learnings from Arbios’ existing large scale pilot plant in Somersby, Australia as well as sub-packages from various suppliers, fabricators and Arbios’ equipment supplier partners into a 27-module full production plant. The execution strategy incorporated the staged delivery of several modules with some major equipment being delivered straight to site.
Final design, fabrication and testing at Zeton was completed in Q4 2023 with delivery and site re-assembly completed in 2024. As of Q4 2024, the facility has entered into the commissioning phase, with operations commencing in 2025.
Designed to produce 50,000 barrels of bio-oil a year, the Chuntoh Ghuna facility is, according to Arbios, the largest HTL facility in the world. Significant non-process engineering support and services in the execution of this project was provided to Zeton and Arbios from Precision Specialized Inc (Logistics and Transport), Pillar Resource Services Inc (fabrication and sub-contracting) and many more.
Arbios’ Chuntoh Ghuna facility was developed in close partnership with the Lheidli T’enneh First Nation ( www.lheildi.ca ) and with support from the Government of British Columbia through the Province’s Initiative Agreement Program under the Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS). Additional support in various stages of the project was provided by Sustainable Development Technology Canada; the BC Innovative Clean Energy Fund; and Natural Resources Canada’s Clean Growth Program.
Stefan Muller, COO, Arbios Biotech: “Our strength comes from forming the right partnerships to build upon our technology and expertise. Building the world’s first HTL facility of this size and scale had the potential to bring its unique set of challenges but combining our world class team with experienced and specialized vendors really helped moved this project forward.”
John Onesi, Zeton’s Senior Project Manager: “The Chuntoh Ghuna Hydrothermal Liquefaction (HTL) project required innovative solutions to numerous complex aspects of the plant design; demanding design conditions of coincident high pressure and high temperatures provided difficult equipment and pipe stress challenges. The Arbios and Licella technical teams provided valuable insight into the design and worked collaboratively with the Zeton engineering and drafting teams to jointly arrive at solutions for all of the presented problems. With project management and coordination across many locations and time zones this was a significant achievement for all team and parties involved.”