Energy makeover at chemical plant turns toxins into fertilizer: a greener approach to burning coal grows stronger when a chemical plant delivers fertilizer and baking soda as byproducts of its clean coal technology.

Saskatchewan Minerals Inc., one of the largest sodium sulphate producers in North America, is getting a $25-million energy makeover. The project is to switch from natural gas to clean coal as the energy source for the facility. The switch is an innovative approach that will re-energize the plant via cheaper fuel. In the process, two higher-value byproducts, fertilizer and baking soda, will be created.

By 2008, the facility located near Chaplin will be home to the province's first commercial application of a potentially near-zero pollution abatement technology for coal.

"The conversion of our energy requirements from natural gas to coal will allow Saskatchewan …