May 27, 2018 – Tyler Kula, The Observer – A company planning a 40-job, commercial-scale biodiesel plant in Sarnia has received a second financial boost from a Sarnia-based bio-business incubator.
“We’re providing (Benefuel) some grant money support to execute their project,” said A.J. Sandy Marshall, executive director of Bioindustrial Innovation Canada (BIC), a government-funded agency helping new, sustainable technologies reach the market.
BIC last month announced it was buying equity in Benefuel – which has offices in Texas and Ottawa – helping with engineering costs for a 75-million-litre-per-year biodiesel plant in Sarnia. Plans are to build by 2020.
The equity purchase in April, and the grant awarded this month under BIC’s Centre for Commercialization of Sustainable Chemistry Innovation (COMM SCI) initiative program, combined represent “well over” $500,000, Marshall said.
Benefuel CEO Rob Tripp said the company has enlisted Vancouver-based Sacré-Davey Engineering for help with a front-end engineering design (FEED) study, expected to wrap up in the fall.
The study helps determine the final cost before proceeding to build, Marshall said.
“This is another big project,” Marshall said about Benefuel’s plans for a biodiesel plant that would utilize as feedstock used cooking oil, animal fats, and ethanol refining byproducts, which all generally go to waste.
The plant is comparable in size, he said, to Comet Biorefining’s $80-million dextrose sugar plant – using corn stalks and wheat straw – planned for the TransAlta Blue Water Energy Park in 2019.
Benefuel is eyeing a few site options, including the Arlanxeo site where bio-chemical company BioAmber is situated, Tripp said.
Suncor Energy’s ethanol plant in St. Clair Township is expected to provide feedstock, he said in April. Suncor is one of Benefuel’s investors.
The Sarnia plant is Benefuel’s first modular design, meaning less time building in the field, and quicker, cheaper construction with better quality control, Tripp said.
“The COMM SCI funding will enable Benefuel to complete a larger amount of engineering in its FEED study, which will provide a higher degree of certainty and accuracy in its project costing,” he said, in a press release.
Asked about the cost of the engineering study, Tripp said the company doesn’t disclose financial information.
He praised BIC’s support.
“It has been really great and goes beyond just the financial assistance,” he said. “They’ve done a good job making it easier for companies like Benefuel to pick (Sarnia) as a location.”
tkula@postmedia.com
Posted in: Headlines