Origin Materials’ first commercial plant nearing start-up in Sarnia

Origin Materials’ Sarnia manufacturing plant is expected to begin operating in the second quarter of this year, say company officials.

The California-based company has been constructing the approximately $130 million facility in an industrial Park at the Arlanxeo site on Vidal Street where it plans to turn biomass, such as sawdust, into building-block chemicals for making plastic and other products.

It’s the first commercial manufacturing facility for Origin Materials and the company said in January that construction of the plant, which it refers to as “Origin 1,” was mechanically complete.

“The mechanical completion of Origin 1 is our most important construction milestone to date,” co-CEO John Bissell said during a recent earnings call.

“This is a large commercial-scale manufacturing plant with a lot of moving parts, and what we’ve been able to accomplish to date, despite the pandemic and related supply-chain headwinds, demonstrates the capability, efficiency, and efficacy of our project team.”

Building the plant required more than 17,000 meters of pipe, 730 tons of steel, more than 75,000 meters of cable and about 10,000 tons of concrete, Bissell said.

“We expect the completion of commissioning and start-up in Q2 (second quarter) 2023.”

The company has said the plant is expected to employ about 50 workers.

“The plant’s critical mechanical systems have been successfully installed and commissioning has begun,” Bissell said. “Work onsite will continue, including electrical work and further technology refinement.”

He said the Sarnia site will be used to qualify the company’s products for customers.

Origin Materials is planning to build a larger manufacturing site in Louisiana.

“We will use Origin 1 not just to scale our technology, but to produce samples in higher volumes than we’ve ever produced at our pilot facilities,” Bissell said.

“The samples and what we and our customers expect to learn from them are extremely valuable and, in the years to come, we expect will be instrumental in helping us deliver on the full promise of our carbon-negative technology platform,” he said.

Formed in 2008, Origin Materials has been a tenant of the Western Sarnia-Lambton Research Park and selected Sarnia as the site for its first commercial manufacturing site.

Bissell has thanked BioIndustrial Innovation Canada, as well as local officials, government agencies and the Sarnia-area community, for their “partnership and support” with the development of the site.

“We expect to gradually ramp up Origin 1 operations throughout the year, aiming to optimally fulfill customer demand while we produce samples and qualify materials,” he said.

[email protected]