Comet Biorefining raises equity to build its commercial plant for 2G dextrose in Sarnia

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Comet Biorefining announced yesterday the completion of a round of equity financing led by PM Equity Partner and with the participation of Sofinnova Partners and Bioindustrial Innovation Canada (BIC). Details of the financing were not disclosed but it is known that the investment will be used to advance the commercialization of Comet’s 2G sugar production platform and fund the construction of a dextrose facility in Sarnia (Ontario, Canada).

As background, it should be remembered that Comet Biorefining:
- informed of the construction of a 60 million pounds (22,400 ton) per year commercial plant to come online in 2018 producing sugar from locally sourced corn stover and wheat straw (February 2016).
- was awarded with a grant of CA$10.9 million from the Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC) for the construction of the plant (March 2016).
- entered into a memorandum of understanding with Cellulosic Sugar Producers Cooperative to collaborate on the development of a sustainable agricultural biomass supply chain in southwestern Ontario (March 2016).
- signed an off-take agreement with biosuccinic acid producer BioAmber for high-purity dextrose from the planned plant (April 2016).

Figure 1. Aerial view of the Bluewater Energy Park (extracted from www.bluewaterenergypark.ca). It is owned by TransAlta and will host the 2G sugar plant of Comet.

The industrial technology of Comet converts agricultural residues into high-purity dextrose for production of sustainable chemicals. Comet cellulosic sugar is competitive in terms of cost and quality with corn or sugarcane derived products, it does not hamper food production and it contributes to lower carbon economy, improving the sustainability profile of the produced biochemical. This technology allows biofuels and bioproducts manufacturers to have a reliable and consistent source of cellulose-based glucose that can be directly converted to value-added end products. The Comet cellulosic sugar process uses two stages to activate cellulosic biomass, followed by conversion to glucose at very low enzyme loading. Co-products are used for energy production or other applications.

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