A chemical company building a large-scale oilseed biorefinery in Indonesia is exploring a similar project in Western Canada.
“We’re actively in conversations to have a biorefinery in Canada. It is likely to be our second North American biorefinery,” said K’Lynne Johnson, chief executive officer of Elevance Renewable Sciences Inc., a firm based in Bolingbrook, Illinois.
Elevance uses a Nobel Prize-winning metathesis catalyst technology to produce specialty chemicals from crops like soybeans, canola and palm.
The privately held firm, whose investors include Cargill, converts natural oils into waxes, functional oils, anti-microbials, lubricants, additives and other chemicals that had previously been the domain of the petrochemical industry.
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In June, Elevance announced it was building its first manufacturing facility in conjunction with Wilmar International Limited, one of Asia’s leading agribusinesses.
The plant will be located within Wilmar’s new manufacturing complex under construction in Surabay, Indonesia.
The biorefinery will initially be capable of producing 180 million tonnes of product a year, with the ability to expand to 360 million tonnes. It is expected to be operating by summer 2011.
Johnson, who was in Saskatoon recently to present at the 10th Agricultural Biotechnology International Conference, said she envisions opening a similar-sized factory in the United States in 2012 and another in Canada following that.
Oilseeds grown in Western Canada are particularly appealing to Elevance for their high levels of unsaturated fats, which result in more chemical products coming out the other end of the plant.
“We’re quite partial to canola and the broader rapeseed family,” said Johnson.
In 2009, the company received a $250,000 grant from the Saskatchewan Canola Development Commission to research how the crop can more effectively be converted into specialty chemicals.
Johnson believes Western Canada could easily support three or four large-scale biorefineries, each of which would consume 300,000 to 350,000 tonnes of locally produced oilseeds annually.
She said farmers should realize better prices for their canola when it is converted into such high-value products.
“We believe that a healthy chain ultimately benefits all of the players in it,” said Johnson.
