Success Stories
A Guelph Region Success Story
Biorem
A strategic partnership in Guelph is creating clean technology for the auto industry and international recognition for a local company.
Best known for their air-odour reducing technology, Biorem Technologies isn’t just making bad smells go away.
With an investment from Ontario, the company has partnered with Polycon — a body part manufacturing and paint division of Magna International — to develop a demonstration plant for its emissions control system.
Biorem has created a new high-efficiency biological-based air emissions control system used to eliminate volatile organic compounds (VOCs) which are harmful to the environment.
“This is a cleaner, greener technology. It removes pollutants, reduces energy use and greenhouse gases and is mutually beneficial to all partners,” said Peter Bruijns, President and CEO of Biorem.
Biorem’s technology will be installed in the automated paint facility at Polycon. The new technology will eliminate the harmful emissions produced in this process in a more environmentally friendly way.
The system combines biological technology with activated re-generable carbon to yield a removal rate equivalent and higher to thermal oxidizers already in place, but in a more cost effective way.
Once this demonstration plant has proven itself with a major international company like Magna’s Polycon, it will generate more interest from other major manufacturing industries around the world, says Biorem’s Vice President of Research & Development, Hadi Husain.
“It’s a great new technology that will eliminate emissions (VOCs) and is beneficial. Because of our relationship with Biorem, we get the first benefits of using this technology,” said David Gray, General Manager, Polycon Industries
Biorem’s flagship municipal odour eliminating technology originated in 1991, coming out of research from the University of Waterloo. Over the last few years, Biorem has diversified its technology to widen its market potential.
“Because of the Innovation Demonstration Fund (IDF) investment, we’ve been able to install this demonstration facility. Without this investment, it would have been extremely difficult for us to diversify,” says Husain. “In terms of market potential, we’re aiming at auto part manufacturers, chemical plants, fibre glass producers, any place around the world with chemical solvents and emissions.”
The technology’s potential is enormous, which is why Ontario is investing in Biorem and helping to build the bio-economy in Guelph.See also:
