June 14, 2018 - Jake Romphf, Sarnia Journal -�An Australian city looking to set up a bio-fuels industry sent a delegation to Sarnia recently to see how it�s done.Matt Burnett, the mayor of Gladstone, Queensland, said Sarnia and his city have much in common, including heavy industry, a location on the water, and similar sized populations.�I want to see how the research is going and delivering jobs and changing the economy here in Sarnia,� he said during a visit to Mayor Mike Bradley�s office.�We can take that learning back.�Gladstone has liquid natural gas plants, aluminum and plenty of coal, but the city wants to diversify into plant-based fuels, he said.�We don�t have a coal problem. My deputy mayor says he loves coal, he baths in coal, he drinks rum and coal,� Burnett said.But it�s time to consider alternatives, he added.�So what�s next for us?�Burnett and Mario Pennisi, CEO of the Life Sciences Queensland, took a driving tour of local plants and visited the Western Research Park on Modeland Road, an incubator for new start-ups.Bio-based companies locally are using leftover corn stalks, wheat straw, industrial emissions and even restaurant fats as feedstocks.In Australia, sugar cane waste is readily available, as well as macadamia nutshells.Sarnia-Lambton turned to the bio-chemical sector after its traditional petrochemical sector began to shrink in the 1990s.Pennisi said his community hopes to establish a cluster much faster in Australia. Technology is more advanced today than it was and the warm climate of Queensland allows for a more crop cycles and higher yields.He said there are valuable lessons to learn from Sarnia�s experience over the past two decades.�There�s maybe some stuff you�d do differently if you had the time again, and that�s the opportunity for us,� Pennisi said.�There�s no point making the same mistakes somebody else has made. We can work together.�The visit was organized by Murray McLaughlin, an advisor to Bioindustrial Innovation Canada. The Sarnia-based not-for-profit is helping attract new businesses to the local cluster of cleaner, greener companies.
