Amec to design Canada’s first commercial-scale biodiesel facility

Amec, an international engineering and project management services company, has secured a $1.9m (£1m) contract to design a $24m (£13m) alternative fuel production plant for Biox Corporation in Hamilton, Ontario.

This will be Canada’s first commercial-scale biodiesel production facility and Amec will provide engineering services and procurement assistance on the project.

The facility should produce 60 million litres of biodiesel a year and increase north American biodiesel production capacity by 50%. It will convert vegetable oils, agricultural seed oils, waste animal fats, greases and recycled cooking oils into biodiesel. Biodiesel can be used as an alternative fuel or blended with regular petroleum diesel at any level in any unmodified diesel engine. It creates 80% fewer hydrocarbons, 60% less CO2 and 50% less particulate matter than petroleum diesel.

Construction is scheduled to begin in late autumn and Biox plans to build plants elsewhere in Canada before expanding across the globe.