Plant planned to make canola plastic

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Published: April 1, 2004

PUERTO VALLARTA, Mexico – A Canadian factory that converts canola into plastic and other industrial products is one step closer to reality.

Researchers at the University of Alberta have secured $1 million in funding to build a small-scale testing facility where canola will be used to make automobile panels, bumpers and dashboards.

“By the end of summer we will have a pilot plant,” said Suresh Narine, director of the Alberta Bioplastics Network, a consortium of institutions that includes the university and a number of provincial and federal government agencies.

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It will be the first plant of its kind in Canada. Similar work is already being done on a commercial scale with soybeans in the United States.

The pilot project will be the proving ground for a team of researchers from the U of A who have developed a canola-based plastic suitable for making moulded car parts, medical tubing, food packages and rust-coating products.

“We’re just doing this to prove that if we make a bumper it doesn’t fall apart,” Narine said.

If the pilot project is successful it could pave the way for a multimillion dollar full-scale plant.

“We believe that in three years we will have a commercialized entity in the Alberta area,” he said.

About the author

Sean Pratt

Sean Pratt

Reporter/Analyst

Sean Pratt has been working at The Western Producer since 1993 after graduating from the University of Regina’s School of Journalism. Sean also has a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Saskatchewan and worked in a bank for a few years before switching careers. Sean primarily writes markets and policy stories about the grain industry and has attended more than 100 conferences over the past three decades. He has received awards from the Canadian Farm Writers Federation, North American Agricultural Journalists and the American Agricultural Editors Association.

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