Wit Ventures: Sarnia's Got Big News In Biochemicals

Friday, 16 June 2017

Sarnia's Got Big News In Biochemicals

BioAmber plant on Vidal St. Zach Neal photo.

The arrival of bio-based succinic acid in the marketplace is creating new markets for the building-block chemical BioAmber manufactures in Sarnia.

BioAmber vice-president Anne Waddell spoke about the potential for bio-succinic acid, a chemical the Montreal-based company makes from corn syrup, during a presentation Wednesday at the Sarnia-Lambton Bio-Industrial Symposium.

The company formed less than a decade ago and began making bio-succinic acid, a chemical traditionally made from oil, at a pilot plant in France, using technology that originated in the 1990s with the U.S. Department of Energy.

In 2015, BioAmber opened a $141-million plant in Sarnia and is considering building a second larger $500-million production site in Sarnia or Louisiana.

Link to the rest here.

Also from Paul Morden, Sarnia Observer.

Another bio-chemical company is planning to set up shop in Sarnia-Lambton.

Sarnia-based Bioindustrial Innovation Canada, a government-funded not-for-profit agency, said Wednesday it has made an investment in Origin Materials, a company in Sacramento that is expected to build its first commercial-scale demonstration facility in Sarnia by late 2018.

“This is really big news,” said Sandy Marshall, executive director of Bioindustrial Innovation Canada.

“These guys are producing a platform chemical with a similar sort of priority and impact as what BioAmber had.”

Link to the rest here.

Thank you for reading.

Shirley D. Neal

Shirley has over 30 years of experience in such diverse businesses as financial planning, manufacturing, and supply. Her education includes a B.A., B.ED., M.ED., C.F.P., N.L.P. and the home inspector’s course as well as having her AZ license for five years. Her family home has given her and her husband the opportunity to do extensive renovation and repairs thereby increasing the value about $100,000 in ten years. She has been able to see firsthand how much a sensible and cost efficient renovations can add to the value of a home. Shirley has chosen joint ventures because she thinks that her experiences an help others achieve their goals and maximize the profits for both parties. In 1979, Shirley became involved in a small group of women who started a metal manufacturing company making small deep drawn metal parts for the automobile companies in Windsor. They took the company from start up to over $400,000 in sales in five years. That was a lot of parts since the parts sold for only five cents per each. In 1985 they sold the company to one of their customers. Whether it was selling mutual funds, teaching foster parents how to recruit foster parents, or working for Tony Robbins, Shirley has put more than 100 percent into every endeavour she was involved in.