Three federal programs will flow a total of $861,000 into New Brunswick for two biodiesel projects and research on making plastics from potato and grain starch.
Christian Paradis, the federal secretary of state for agriculture, announced the funding for the three projects Friday in Edmundston. They include:
- retrofitting and buying equipment for a mill at Clair, west of Edmundston, to set up a biodiesel processing plant operated by Bio-D Energie Inc., with $500,000 from the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency business development program;
- further refinement of Bio-D Energie’s production technology, to be able to produce soy- and canola-based biodiesel that’s up to North American standards, using $300,000 from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s Biofuels Opportunities for Producers Initiative (BOPI); and
- research at the Centre of Excellence in Agriculture and Biotechnological Sciences at Grand Falls to find the most cost-efficient technology for turning potato and grain starches into lactic acid for use in biodegradable plastic and “green” packaging, with $61,000 from AAFC’s Advancing Canadian Agriculture and Agri-Food (ACAAF) program.
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Bio-D Energie Inc. is a partnership including biofuel maker Biocardel, potato grower Andre Long and Quebec animal nutrition firm Belisle Solution Nutrition. Its plant at Clair already processes crushed canola and soy meal for animal feed and for oil, which it refines and uses in its own truck fleet.
