Update on Biox Corp. and progress of Hamilton biodiesel plant
I had a chat this week with Tim Haig, president and CEO of Oakville, Ontario-based Biox Corp., which announced back in June 2004 its plan to build a 60-million-litre a year biodiesel production facility in Hamilton.
The company’s plan from the beginning has been to better showcase its advanced, lower-cost approach to making biodiesel from vegetable oils, seed oils, waste animal fats and recycled cooking oils. And its effort has been partly funded by Sustainable Development Technology Canada.
Haig said construction of the plant is on schedule, and that it will officially be completed before the end of the first quarter of 2006 — i.e. soon. He said he’s very pleased with the renewable fuels standard introduced in Ontario, and commitments from both the federal Liberals and Conservatives to introduce similar targets federally. Beyond that, however, his attention is on Europe, where the market for biodiesel is more mature and shows more promise, and the United States, where promotion of biodiesel has become an issue of energy independence for Americans.
“We’re intent to deploy our tech to the highest and best use jurisdictions,” he said, adding that Biox will build and operate its own plants, either alone or in partnership with others. Asked which countries in Europe show most promise, he was reluctant to get specific. “There are some countries more advanced, less advanced. It’s a question of do you go to countries that understand biodiesel more but have more players, or do you go to new jurisdictions,” he explained. “Those are the questions we’re asking and trying to answer now.”
Asked about the ongoing debate over whether investment in biofuel production is misguided, he was dismissive. “There is no debate on biodiesel and there is no debate on cellulose. There may be a debate on grain-based ethanol, but I think that’s been put to bed,” he said, referring to studies from the U.S. Department of Energy showing that you get more energy out of ethanol than what it takes to produce it.
Of course, Cornell’s David Pimentel has come to the opposite conclusion, something not lost on the anti-biofuel movement. “Anybody can be insane,” said Haig. “If you want to talk crazy we’ll talk crazy. Anybody who wants to look at the science properly will see that the energy balance is positive.”
Tyler Hamilton is senior energy reporter and columnist for the Toronto Star, Canada's largest daily newspaper. In addition to this Clean Break blog, Tyler writes a weekly column of the same name that discusses trends, happenings and innovators in the cleantech market. This blog is a personal project started in April 2005. It is not an official blog of the newspaper. Tyler can be reached at tyler@cleanbreak.ca
January 16th, 2006 at 2:55 pm
“Anybody can be insane” — may I quote that!? That’s brilliant, I’m really tired of David Pimental’s recursive data laundering. Glad to see saner minds are prevailing.
February 17th, 2006 at 1:39 pm
Biodiesel from waste bio-oils? Certainly- it makes energetic and emissions-reduction sense to do so, provided that the producer has no on-site use for heat which they could satisfy by merely burning the waste oil in a boiler. But biodiesel from fresh raw soybean oil? You’d have to put on several pairs of rose-coloured glasses to see an environmental benefit to farming foodstock oil and using it to make transportation fuel!
Once food producers and deep-friers start to see commercial biodiesel facilities spring up, their waste oil will go from a low-value, limited market agricultural by-product used as a feed supplement for animals to a “feedstock” for the production of biodiesel fuel. As this occurs, the price of this “waste” will increase, and the economic viability of biodiesel will suffer. Such is the fate of all wastes put to beneficial use I’m afraid- the market makes sure of that.
Once we pay the full, true and fair cost of the energy we use in all its forms, we’ll have a hope of making intelligent choices in regard to what forms of energy we use for what purposes. Investments in conservation will make too much sense for businesses and individuals to ignore. Until then, we’ll continue to be energy addicts, energy gluttons and energy morons from a public policy perspective. And our politicians will continue to grasp for the mythical “technological fix” which will make the whole thing go away so we can keep doing what we’ve always been doing.
May 14th, 2006 at 10:37 am
What are the vegetable oils that Biox plans to use for its biodiesel facility? There appears to be a debate whether soy or corn are suitable for biodiesel in the context of their yields, and whether crops like jatropha are better candidates…also, what is Biox’s position on algae-based biodiesel?
Vic, Castor Oil Online
July 21st, 2006 at 1:45 am
I think it’s pretty clear that neither soy nor corn are the most appropriate crops for oil production, and no doubt contribute to some of the confusion regarding energy balance. In North America, probably the best commerical crop for oil production would be canola, with oil yields more than twice that for soy by acre. Jatropha is probably one of the highest oil per acre producers, but grows in tropical conditions which may limit the land available for growth.
As for using new oil for bio-diesel – why not? Fine, the economics of it will shift dramatically, but perhaps allowing traders and businesses to determine how a nation operates is a little on the facist side to begin with. I didn’t vote for the CEO of Exxon or Shell, or any of the traders on the floor of the NY or Toronto stock exchanges.