Licella Acquires Full Ownership of Arbios Biotech, Accelerating Global Expansion of Cat-HTR™ Platform

BDC Member, Licella, just announced the acquisition of Canfor Corporation’s 50% stake in Arbios Biotech and its associated partnership arrangements, making Arbios a wholly owned subsidiary of Licella. This strategic move represents a significant milestone in Licella’s global growth, bringing its world-leading Cat-HTR™ platform, an advanced form of hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL), under a single, unified strategy for the development of advanced biofuels.

 

As part of the transaction, Canfor will become a shareholder in Licella, underscoring its continued confidence in the global scale-up and commercialization of Cat-HTR™ technology.

 

The Chuntoh Ghuna facility in Prince George, British Columbia, named by the Lheidli T’enneh First Nation and meaning “the forest lives”, will remain a central hub in Licella’s global commercialization efforts.

 

BDC honored Licella with the 2024 Innovation Award and Canfor with Industrial Partnership Award for the development of a commercial-scale biomass to biofuel plant under Arbios Biotech, the joint venture with Licella, which is an excellent example of an industrial partnership to help commercialize emerging technologies. While receiving the award, Dr. Len Humphreys, Licella’s Executive Chairman and Co-Founder, made the following statement, “We are honored to be recognized by BDC, who has been a strong champion for Licella in North America for over a decade. We accept this award on behalf of our entire global team that have worked tirelessly to transform Licella’s Cat-HTR™ technology into a world leader in renewable innovation.”