Canadian business accelerator working on designs for modular biodiesel plant

Bioindustrial Innovation Canada (BIC) has approved a project to produce designs for a modular biodiesel plant. BIC is a not-for-profit business accelerator based in Ontario, Canada and hopes the new plant will lower construction costs and improve quality.  Its Centre for Commercialization of Sustainable Chemistry Innovation (COMM SCI) will work with the renewable energy company Benefuel on the project. Benefuel uses its ‘ENSEL’ catalyst technology to produce a low carbon intensity biodiesel from a variety of food and agriculture waste streams.

The work will support a front-end engineering design (FEED) study for a 75 million litre, novel biodiesel plant to be located in Sarnia, Ontario.

The goal of the project is to provide Benefuel with a well-defined, modular engineering design that can be replicated and constructed by a wide-range of fabricators. The modular design is meant to reduce costs, accelerate development, improve quality and lower the overall risk of execution.

Rob Tripp, Chief Executive Officer of Benefuel 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.  Our refining package will provide for the processing of a wide variety of low carbon and waste feedstocks like distiller’s corn oil, used cooking oil and animal fats."

Bioindustrial Innovation Canada’s goal is to help Ontario and Canada become globally recognised leaders in the field of sustainable technologies. BIC established COMM SCI initiative in 2016 to act as a hub for the commercialisation of sustainable chemistry and bio-based innovation. COMM SCI supports BIC’s mission to provide critical strategic investment, advice and services to business developers of clean, green and sustainable technologies.