By Paul Morden, from www.thobserver.ca The Observer
A pilot plant KmX Corporation began operating in Sarnia a year ago could lead to more investment in the community.
“We have been absolutely delighted with Sarnia, with the facility, with the support,” CEO Issac Gaon said during a visit to the company’s plant at the Western Sarnia-Lambton Research Park.
“We will continue to make this a major base for our business.”
The Oakville-based company’s technology, initiated at the University of Ottawa, uses membranes in the place of distillation in the production of green chemicals and biofuels.
The pilot plant currently employs three people full-time, plus seven students, producing ethanol, butanol, and demonstrating how the company’s membrane technology can be used in treating wastewater.
“It allows people to take what we say and actually test it out,” Gaon said.
That’s an important step for a new technology working to replace one in use since “biblical times,” he said.
Gaon said the technology’s use of membranes to separate liquids from liquids requires less energy and reduces the complexity of processing of chemicals, compared to distillation.
It’s also safer technology because it uses lower temperatures and pressures, said chief operating officer Jill Harris.
“We still have hurdles we have to cross,” she added.
“Our capital outlay is probably higher than alternative ways, but that’s because they have been around forever.”
But, Harris added, the cost of KmX’s technology should come down in time and “we believe we will be very, very competitive with current technologies.”
The company already has a commercial scale plant operating in Virginia where it demonstrates its technology, and provides recycling services to industrial clients.
Gaon said the company’s technology could also be used to treat wastewater for the shale gas industry.
KmX was one of the first companies to set up a pilot plant at the research park in Sarnia, and Goan said the facility is attracting attention from potential partners and clients.
“We are talking about partnerships already with companies, both here and the U.S.,” he said.
“Some of the partners we have in the area definitely see this as the seed ground, at the very least,” said Harris.
She added there’s interest in scaling up KmX’s technology in the Sarnia area to the “semi-works” stage that comes just before moving to full-scale commercial operation.
“We’re very proud of what we’ve done and hopefully people will start to recognize the value of the technology, and we’ll move forward,” Gaon said.