Valorization of woody and herbaceous residues in BC Coast and Southwestern Ontario

At BioFuelNet Canada, Knowledge Translation (KT) is defined as a dynamic and iterative process that includes synthesis, dissemination, exchange and application of knowledge to improve public policy, professional practice, social services, products and processes related to advanced biofuels. This process takes place within a complex system of interactions between researchers and knowledge users which may vary in intensity, complexity and level of engagement depending on the nature of the research and the findings as well as the needs of the particular knowledge users.

The Biomass and Bioenergy Research Group (BBRG) at the University of British Columbia (UBC) developed a proposal to engage in BFN’s Knowledge Translation (KT) opportunity.  The BFN’s Forestry Task Force supported the initiative and subsequently the BFN approved the following two KT Tasks.

For KT Task A, technology solutions are applied to add value to sawmill residues in BC Coastal region. The hub of the activities is located in Mission District, South Coast of BC about 100 km East of Vancouver along the Fraser River. In addition to ample roadways, the business has access to CP tracks for rail and unloading conveyors for barge transport. As a member of BFN, UBC-BBRG will provide new knowledge for effective ash and moisture reductions. The future solutions will focus on more complex processes like salt reduction and biomass densification to produce pellets, biochar, pyrolysis oil and eventually drop-in fuels.

KT Task B focuses on supplying herbaceous corn stover to the Sarnia Cellulosic Sugar Project in Southwestern of Ontario. Bioindustrial Innovation Canada (BIC) is completing business plans to support the establishment of a commercial-scale cellulosic sugar plant in Sarnia in 2018. The UBC-BBRG’s unique contribution to this project is the application of IBSAL to ensure uninterrupted supply of consistent quality feedstock at a competitive price to the proposed plant in Sarnia. These two Canadian business opportunities are organized each as a hub of knowledge transfer and dissimination among biomass producers, processers and end users. The projects provide excellent opportunity for industrial training of graduate students.