From its launch on Hamilton Harbour in 2005, Biox quietly became one of the world's fastest growing biofuel players with a refinery that turns animal fat and old cooking oil into a clean-burning diesel fuel alternative.

It was founded by an ex-military officer who grew frustrated by the effort to defend petroleum-rich regions of the world.

"I was very disappointed that we were making huge oil-based policy decisions and sending people off to war," said Oakville's Tim Haig. After a battle with leukemia that kept him from returning to the British Army, he got an MBA in London and pursued the renewables market

Inspired by the University of Toronto's creation of a molecule that mimics the traits of a hydrocarbon in diesel fuel, Haig purchased that intellectual property and ran a pilot project in Burlington before opening the Hamilton plant.

Read the full story at thespec.com.