Tyler Kula, The Sarnia Observer – April 1, 2020
The country’s only producer of a key chemical used in manufacturing hand sanitizer is donating 125,000 litres to the federal government free of charge, a spokesperson said Wednesday.
The volume of isopropyl alcohol, or IPA, to be donated over the next three months is enough to create nearly one-million 12-ounce bottles of hand sanitizer, said Tara Lemay, a Shell Canada spokesperson, in an email.
Shell’s Corunna refinery, just south of Sarnia, normally sells the chemical to “a few major customers” in the United States that, in turn, manufacture hand sanitizer for shelves across Canada and the U.S., she wrote.
Customers that use the chemical to manufacture goods that aren’t health-related have been asked to delay their orders, if possible, Lemay wrote, as the 400-employee site in Corunna boosts production to meet demand amid the COVID-19 pandemic response.
“With a focus on safe and reliable operations, we have ramped up production in our IPA chemical plant to maximum within current operational constraints,” she wrote, noting shifts have been staggered and maintenance reduced to essential needs only to keep people healthy via physical distancing while keeping production units running.
The chemical is also used in rubbing alcohol and for “hospital sanitation needs,” she wrote, noting the Corunna refinery that also manufactures transportation fuels and solvents is one of “very few” sites in the world making United States Pharmaceutical (USP)-grade isopropyl alcohol, meaning it’s certified to use on skin and in hospitals.
“Which is of obvious importance in this current situation,” Lemay wrote.
A Shell plant in the Netherlands recently donated IPA to the Dutch health-care sector, she wrote.
The IPA production increase started mid-March, she wrote, noting there have been no layoffs of Shell employees at the Corunna facility, though the number of contractors at the site has been reduced.
The chemical – the one produced in Sarnia is more than 99 per cent pure – is also still being sold to other customers who use it for health-related purposes, she wrote.
Health Canada recommends using sanitizers with at least 60 per cent alcohol, she wrote.
The donation, meanwhile, is being made to Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada for use in the health-care sector, she wrote.
“We have been told their focus for IPA use is 100 per cent in manufacture of hand sanitizer,” she wrote.
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