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New industry promises jobs and greener cars
TORONTO STAR FILE PHOTO
Thirty per cent of the interior plastics in the 2010 Lexus HS 250h hybrid are plant-based. Ontario is a world leader in developing these bioplastics.
The technology, being developed in Ontario, is at least several years away. But it's part of a new industry that promises jobs here and greener vehicles around the world.
It's called bioplastics – materials made from soy, corn, sugar, wood chips and other plant matter that replace or enhance those that, for seven decades, have been made from a dizzying array of petrochemicals. A low-rent version is used in biodegradable shopping bags. Advanced ones can go into seat cushions and fabrics, roof liners, body pans, hood liners, doorsills and many other parts, offering, the industry says, reduced weight, greenhouse gas emissions, toxicity and costs.
Ford, Toyota/Lexus and some European carmakers are in hottest pursuit of these new products: Lexus boasts 30 per cent of the interior plastics in its new 250h hybrid are plant-based. But the entire industry is moving in the same direction.
Ontario is among the world leaders in developing these plastics and a nascent industry group, the Ontario BioAuto Council, is trying to keep it near the top.
There's great potential, says Bernard West, a chemical engineer who chairs the Guelph-based council. "It will revolutionize the way cars are produced."
Not surprisingly, the industry says its prospects hinge on money; specifically, whether the Ontario and federal governments make long-term commitments to development of actual products that could be made here and sold anywhere.
The council already received $6 million from the province to cover its expenses and invest in promising products: All the investment cash has been distributed.
It now seeks a similar sum soon and $25 million over five years. Compared with what Japan, France and Germany are pouring into the industry, it's "a drop in the bucket," but it would "keep us moving at a reasonable pace," West says.
Ontario appears interested. Ottawa supports research into the crystals that might enhance paint, but other funding doesn't mesh with what the council and its member companies are trying to do, says the group's president, Chris Crawford.
The feds' new $1 billion Southern Ontario economic development fund is focused on university research and small start-up ventures. Ottawa has little to help established companies to transform ideas into production-ready goods. Some of these – the likes of chemical maker Dupont Canada, and parts manufacturers Canadian General Tower, Magna International and Woodbridge Group – are large, but they, too, need a nudge to keep work here, Crawford says.
Ontario is already out of the running for manufacturing basic products – such as soy-based foam or polyurethane from sugar. Its niche could be to import these materials and add processed wheat straw, pulp fibres, nano-crystals or other ingredients to improve their performance and economics.
Work remains: Most bioplastics now are inside vehicles or out of sight, in part because they deteriorate quicker than petrochemical-based materials in sunlight. They're also difficult to recycle.
And there's concern – although less than with biofuels, because quantities are smaller – about using food crops for bioplastics. So the industry aims for products based on farm and forest wastes, or, further off, resources such as algae grown at an industrial scale.
Still, bioplastics appear crucial to development of greener, cheaper cars. A U.S. Energy Department study predicts they'll comprise 10 to 15 per cent of the global plastics market next year.
Ontario's role "is an open question," Crawford says. "I see positive signs ... we'll see whether governments can sustain them."
It seems at least as good an investment as billions for bailouts.
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