Woodland Biofuels has reported closing of a common equity investment in the company to help build a demonstration plant that will produce cellulosic ethanol from renewable wastes.

The plant will be located at the Bioindustrial Innovation Centre in the University of Western Ontario’s Sarnia-Lambton Research Park.

The equity investment is part of a $12m demonstration plant financing, and the investors include the Ontario Emerging Technologies Fund (OETF), Investeco Capital, and David LeGresley, former vice-chairman of National Bank Financial.

The demonstration plant will use Woodland’s patented technology, which can produce sustainable fuels from virtually any type of biomass, including wood waste, agricultural waste and municipal waste.