Iogen Corp. has publicly talked about building Canada’s first commercial-scale cellulosic ethanol plant since the turn of the century, but it turns out that distinction will go to a rival company that has been working in relative anonymity.
SunOpta Inc. has quietly announced a joint venture with GreenField Ethanol Inc., Canada’s largest ethanol producer, to build a 40 million litre plant in Ontario or Quebec that will convert wood chips into fuel.
“We are most pleased to partner with GreenField, combining their world class expertise developing ethanol plants with our world class expertise in biomass pretreatment and cellulosic ethanol technologies,” SunOpta president Steve Bromley said in a Dec. 21 news release that seems to have gone largely unnoticed.
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The plant would usher in the next generation of ethanol technology that many scientists and environmentalists feel is far superior to what is now employed.
Cellulosic ethanol addresses the moral issue of using food for fuel, provides significant energy efficiency compared to grain-based ethanol and produces fewer greenhouse gas emissions than its counterpart.
While Iogen has continued to ponder when and where to build its first plant, waiting for governments in either Canada or the United States to offer up a sizable loan guarantee, SunOpta has been busy planning and building cellulosic plants around the world.
It has a plant in China that started producing ethanol from corn stover in 2006, a facility in Spain that will convert wheat straw into ethanol and one in the United States that will produce ethanol from sugarcane bagasse and wood. The Spanish and American plants are set to start up this summer.
SunOpta and GreenField, formerly Commercial Alcohols Inc., are selecting a site for their first plant in Canada.
GreenField produces 215 million litres of corn-based ethanol per year at its plants in Chatham and Tiverton, Ont. A plant in Varennes, Que., is slated to open this month and two more plants are under construction in Ontario.
By 2008 GreenField will be one of the top ethanol producers in North America, operating five plants producing more than 700 million litres of ethanol per year.
SunOpta did not respond to interview requests. GreenField spokesperson Melanie Gruer said they have yet to select a date for when the plant will be constructed.
“Once we determine the site it will become clearer from there, I would imagine,” she said.
Iogen is still waiting for government support before it announces whether it will build its first commercial-scale plant in one of three previously announced locations: Birch Hills, Sask., the County of Minburn in Alberta or Idaho Falls, Idaho.
The company will not specify how big the plant will be. It has discussed options that include a 200 million litre plant in Alberta to a facility half that size in Idaho. The plant would convert wheat straw into fuel.
Another cellulosic project in the works is a 75 million litre facility in Nipawin, Sask., which would use flax straw and forestry byproducts for its raw material. The original plan put forward by the Nipawin Ethanol Co-operative calls for construction to start this year.
An update on the Nipawin project is expected in April.
