Sarnia

similar type businesses in that bio-industryfield,other businesses come,”says Shaw.Finally,there is available space and,sometimes available infrastructure,as well, from legacychemical companies that have departed fromSarnia,like DowChemical,which left in 2009. “One thing that’s uniquewithin the Cityof Sarnia for newlarge industries that are relocating–they don’t have the samewater needs as the companies that were here prior to vacating,”explains Director of Engineering,PublicWorks&Transit,Mike Berkvens. “Thismakes roomwithin the existing permits to take water for process water and fire protection,or treat- ment facilities,so a lot of the times,when plants are moving inwithin the footprints of these locations, they’re not a hundred percent reliant onmunicipal services.”For example,TransAlta,an electricgenerating company,opened its Bluewater EnergyParkon former DowChemical land.Featuring 170 acres available for development of newmanufacturing,the Park is able to provide steamand electrical power fromTransAl- ta’s Sarnia Regional Cogeneration Plant at favorable prices.Also,the fact that theycan purchase steam from TransAltameans theydo not need to put in their own boiler system.The benefits of building in an estab- lished chemical communityhelpsmove it toward a circular bio-economy. One newcompany that is establishing in Sarnia is OriginMaterials,a California-based,bio-chemical company that began this winter with a $6-million pilot plant at theWestern Sarnia-Lambton Research Park.Now,it is planning to open a $31.4million com- mercial-scale demonstration plant on land currently owned byARLANXEOCanada,a synthetic rubber company (and the prior site of the 1942 Polymer Corporation),located in the Bio-Industrial ParkSarnia. “OriginMaterials uses second generationmaterials like cardboard andwood chips tomake components for plastic,”saysMisek-Evans.“Theyare nowgraduating from labs to their first commercial facility to be located in Sarnia at one of the private business parks in the City’s south end.” TheOrigin site is just west of the two-year-old,$141 million BioAmber plant that manufactures 66,000,000 pounds of succinic acid per year,a chemical used to make plastics,lubricants,paint,cosmetics,food addi- tives,and other products.“Up until BioAmber’s new technology to produce it frombio-basedmaterials, succinic acid has traditionallybeen petroleum-based, produced by the petro-chemical industry,”Misek-Evans explains.“So,this has been a real advancement in tech- nology.It’s got its first big plant here in Sarnia.” Other companies that have set up shop in Sarnia include COMET,which is designing a sugar mill for 80,000 tons of corn stover supplied fromLambton county farmers through the Cellulosic Sugar Producers Cooperative.Themill will be built at the Bluewater EnergyParkand be operational by2019/20. Woodland Biofuels Inc.,a Canadian biotech startup companypro- ducing ethanol and high value products fromwaste biomass,constructed a demonstration plant at the Western Sarnia-Lambton Research Park in 2012.From Innovation Bridge is Sarnia-Lambton’s Commercialization Centre Collaborative organizations supporting innovation: • Technology commercialization resources • Investment funding and access to financial support • Applied research and development • Training and access to highly qualified personnel • High speed fibre network • Canada’s largest technology incubator • Project ready industrial manufacturing sites • Top ranked Research Park • Top Canadian Applied Research College • Canada’s first commercialized Biohybrid Chemistry Cluster Contact us for more information: 1086 Modeland Road, Sarnia, ON N7S 6L2 Phone: (519) 332-1820 www.innovationbridge.ca info@innovationbridge.ca SARNIA, ONTARIO