Performance Plants establishes US biofuels facility

Kingston, ON – Biotech company Performance Plants (PPI) says it has established a research centre in the US to develop specialized non-food crops for industries seeking renewable feedstocks for liquid transportation fuels, biochemicals and coal replacement.

The facility, called the American Research Center, is located in Waterloo, NY, and will develop biomass feedstocks adapted to maximize cellulose energy productivity per acre on land less suitable for food or feed production. The company says the crops will not compete with staple food crops such as corn and soybean.

Through the centre, the company says it plans to link its discovery expertise with its biotech crop development capabilities. It will evaluate and demonstrate industrial, agronomic and environmental efficacy on an adjacent energy farm. The centre will provide the next generation of customized feedstocks derived from cellulosic non-food biomass crops.

“PPI’s capacity to deliver innovative products for the biofuels industry is now totally in house, from trait discovery to registered crop seeds for farmers and biomass feedstock for industry”, says Peter Matthewman, the company’s president.

The company also recently announced a four-year agreement with Lafarge Canada to develop and provide optimized non-food biomass to replace coal at its cement plant in Bath, ON.