July 1, 2006 was a day that our St Clair Ethanol Plant team members regard as the first grind – the day the plant began production.

Located in Mooretown, Ont., the facility is Canada’s largest ethanol plant and has a current production capacity of 400 million litres per year. In addition to the operational milestone, our small but mighty team also celebrated producing 5 billion litres of ethanol since opening in 2006 (that’s enough to fill 2000 Olympic size swimming pools). 

“I am so proud to be a part of this fantastic team and to celebrate 15 years of production with all current and past team members,” says Micaela Streeter, Director, Ethanol Operations. 

Did you know that ethanol is a lower-carbon intensity, renewable resource? And it’s produced from corn! The plant uses 40 million bushels of corn each year making up 20 per cent of Ontario’s annual corn crop. 

The facility in 2006 produced 200 million litres. It was expanded several years later to reach a production capacity of 400 million litres. We continue to expand our business with low-carbon intensity projects and in this case, we doubled the production capacity! 

Team members executing spring maintenance activity
Team members executing spring maintenance activity 

The facility, as part of our Downstream business, is recognized as an important part of Suncor’s integrated strategy. Most ethanol production from the plant is used by the Petro-Canada retail network in Ontario and contributes to the avoidance of approximately 500,000 tonnes of GHG emissions per year.

“Time flies, what a terrific milestone!” says Kris Smith, Executive Vice President, Downstream. “Suncor has always been proud of being Canada’s largest ethanol production facility. The success of this facility is due to the great team that keeps our operations running safely and reliably.” 

Our team keeps busy with over 100 trucks coming through the facility each day to deliver corn that will be converted to ethanol, corn oil for the biofuels market and to pick up dried distillers’ grains for livestock feed. This hardworking team is also actively involved in supporting their community.  

St. Clair Ethanol Plant employees volunteering to wrap holiday gifts
St. Clair Ethanol Plant employees volunteering to wrap holiday gifts 

“We have so many great people working at the St. Clair Ethanol Plant and we’ve cultivated many friendships and great memories through not only our daily work but through United Way volunteering activities,” shares Davina Anderson, Senior Human Resources Strategic Partner. “I’m thankful I get to work with such a good group of people each day.”  

Congratulations to the St. Clair Ethanol Plant team for the milestone and for continuing to grind everyday.