The sky-high worldwide demand for hand sanitizer has caused at least one producer to upgrade its facilities.

On October 19, Greenfield Global announced that it will spend $75 million to expand its facility in Johnstown, a small community about 90 kilometres south of Ottawa.

The company, which is Canada’s largest producer of fuel ethanol, and a global leader in the production high-purity specialty alcohols and solvents, announced that the expanded plant will allow it to increase production of various grades of high purity alcohols—including those used in hand sanitizer—by 100 million litres annually to 250 million litres once the Johnstown plant is expanded by the end of 2021.

Greenfield upped production of US Pharmacopeia Grade (USP) alcohol—the chief ingredient in alcohol-based hand sanitizers and surface disinfectants—in April, shortly after the COVID-19 pandemic was officially declared. Since then, demand has been relentless. The company says that global demand for its products made the Johnstown plant expansion essential.

“Expansion of our Johnstown facility is an exciting milestone for Greenfield, a considerable step forward in our domestic supply capacity, and will greatly enhance our capabilities to serve our customers, including Life Science and pharmaceutical companies that are experiencing unprecedented demand for their products,” said Greenfield President and CEO, Howard Field. “This expansion empowers us to increase our supply of high-purity, USP Grade alcohol and produce additional volumes of the highest quality products serving the Canadian market, as well as our newly opened European packaging facility and hub in Portlaoise, Ireland.”

Greenfield is regarded as one of the world's leading high-purity alcohol producers, with distributors in more than 50 countries, and five packaging and blending facilities in Canada, the United States, and Europe.

The addition of its 100-million litre high purity alcohol distillation system at the company’s Johnstown plant will be accompanied by significant investments in its finished product storage and segregation tanks, a new laboratory, additional rail capacity, and other enhancements related to securing various food and pharmaceutical grade certifications.

Greenfield received a $2.5-million grant under the Ontario Together Fund of the Ministry of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade to support the production of additional volumes of high-purity alcohols required by healthcare and medical professionals, life sciences and pharmaceutical manufacturers, as well as front-line workers across the province.

Construction on the facility begins this month and is expected to take 12 months. It will create many jobs, including construction, administration, plant operations, and ancillary jobs in the Johnstown, Prescott, Brockville, and surrounding area.

It will also create a new domestic market to boost the local agricultural economy. Greenfield’s ongoing fuel ethanol demand will be met with increased production at its biorefinery in Varennes, Québec.