BioAmber Inc. announced the opening of a new processing plant in Sarnia, Ontario, Canada. The plant, which was built with the cooperation of Mitsui & Co., Ltd, will make renewable chemical via sugar, rather than using petroleum. Using new and innovative biotechnology, the Sarnian plant plans to produce bio-based succinic acid derived from local Ontario agriculture. This plant is the world’s largest succinic acid production plant, and will likely be competitive on a global scale, all the while maintaining record sustainability in the chemical creation process.
The Sarnia division of BioAmber is part of a trend brewing in the Sarnia, and has received support from the Canadian government and the local Ontario government, as well as support from the community. The construction cost of the plant was approximately US$141.5 million, producing over 82 tons of succinic acid a day. The biotechnology used manages to be lower in cost than productions using oil, creating an increasingly large demand for renewable chemicals in the global market.
An estimated 300 construction jobs and 60 full-time jobs were created due to the project, and many of the plant’s operators are graduates from the local Lambton College. “The opening of the BioAmber Sarnia facility is key to the development of Sarnia’s very unique bio-industrial complex,” said Brad Duguid, minister of economic development at the Provincial Parliament Scarborough-Centre, “delivering good jobs, significant exports, and diverse markets for Ontario farmers with the full support of the Government of Ontario. The production and development of sustainable chemicals by BioAmber, working from within the existing chemistry cluster in Sarnia, is an economic and environmental win for the community and the province.”
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Hi I’m Erin Clements , and I’m a young freelance writer and content creator. I spend far too much of my time online watching videos about cute animals, gaming, and makeup. You can find me on Instagram and Twitter: @0fmiceandmeep
YouTube: BioAmber Bio-Succinic Acid Plant Construction – Sarnia, Ontario, Canada
Photo credit: BioAmber
