Underpinning Canadian Bioenergy Development
Australia and Canada
• Both large countries with large areas that are less hospitable
• Canada
– Only 0.5% of the world’s population
– 7% of the earth’s land area
– 2-4% of the global CO2 exchange
– Biosphere inactive half the year due to low temperatures
BioFuelNet: Our vision & mission
• Our vision is a Canada with a thriving advanced biofuels industry that is socially, economically and environmentally sustainable.
• Our mission is to support the growth of Canada’s advanced biofuels industry through coordinated research, innovation, effective education, smart policy and strategic partnerships.
Advanced biofuels are produced from non-food materials
Agro-forestry waste Energy crops
Algae Municipal waste 4
Renewable biofuels can provide:
• Sustainable source of energy
• Reduced GHG emissions
• Reduced reliance on food crops for
biofuel production
Advanced biofuels
BioFuelNet: Benefits to Canada
6
BioFuelNet Canada is a Network of Centres of Excellence
(NCE) that brings together the Canadian biofuels research
community.
Operates under a $25 million grant over 5 years (2012 to
2017) through the NCE program.
• 10 projects containing 59 work packages
• Facilitates collaboration
• Supports commercialization
• Government interaction
• Represents Canada
• Trains students and postdocs
BioFuelNet: About the network
7
• McGill University (Host)
• 27 universities
• 71 leading researchers (162 collaborating)
• 90 industry partners
• Over 150 partners
• Over 300 Highly Qualified Personnel (HQP) trained
• Numerous national & international contacts
Who is involved?
8
Examples of BFN’s Community
9
Academia
Other Investment
Government
Industry
Examples: ~1/3 in each case
Task Forces Integrate Themes
FEEDSTOCK
UTILIZATION
CONVERSION
SEES 10
1. Purpose-grown feedstock
2. Residues & waste
3. Bioconversion
4. Pyrolysis
5. Gasification
6. Emerging conversion technologies
7. Combustion & engine operations
8. Life cycle analysis & microeconomics
9. Domestic & international policy
10. Supply-chain logistics
PROJECTS: FEEDSTOCK: 1. Purpose-grown feedstock; 2. Residues & waste
CONVERSION: 3. Bioconversion; 4. Pyrolysis; 5. Gasification; 6. Emerging conversion technologies
UTILIZATION: 7. Combustion & engine operations
SEES: 8. Life cycle analysis & microeconomics; 9. Domestic & international policy; 10. Supply-chain logistics
In Summary
• HQP, generally PhD or Postdoc level
• Organize regular meetings (on the order of
three per year as a minimum) of projects
and task forces
• Is a program for training HQP how to
manage science projects and labs
• They coordinate key aspects of networking
HQP Managers
12
Specific Networking Activities
A community approach
• For example, 5 stories written for
year 2
– Energy crops on marginal land
– Forest biorefining
– New yeasts
– Biofuel combustion
– Ford Motor Co.
Success Stories
14
• Dec. 1, 2014 in Toronto
• On the eve of Canadian Renewable Fuels
Association Summit (partnership w CRFA)
Strategic Business Summit II
15
Academia, 12
Gov’t, 8
Industry, 23
VC, 6
Int’l + other 10
Attendance = 59
• May 27-29 in Ottawa
• Theme: Bridging the gap between
industry, government and academia
Advanced Biofuels Symposium
16
• Workshop – Held at ABS
– ~100 HQP participate
– Groups pitched ideas to a “Board of Directors” for a multi-national biofuel corp in 2014.
– In 2015, worked on aspects of communication
• Travel – Exchanges: up to $4,200, 1 week to 3 months
(~12 yr-1)
– Travel: $500 within province (~20 yr-1); $1,000 in Canada but outside province (~80 yr-1), $1,500 for international travel (~20 yr-1)
HQP Networking
17
• Recorded lectures
• Now officially part of the McGill curriculum
• Registration at/over capacity
• Industry interest increasing
Advanced Biofuels Course
18
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
Jan ('14) Sept ('14) Jan ('15)
Students
Industry
Government
• Crop residues – 1 to 12% of gasoline
• Purpose grown crops – 6 to 285%
• Forest residue – 3 to 34%
• Mill residues – 1 to 4%
• MSW – 2 to 6%
• TOTAL – 13 to 341%
With careful management Canada could supply its transportation fuel though biomass
Canadian Biofuel Potential
Mabee and Saddler 2010
INEOS Bio - New Planet Energy -- Indian River BioEnergy Center
• Vero Beach, Florida
• Opened July 2013
• Capacity: 32 M L yr-1 and 6 megawatts (gross) of renewable power
POET–DSM -- Project Liberty
• Emmetsburg, Iowa
• Opened Sept 2014
• Capacity: 100 M L yr-1
DuPont -- Nevada Site Cellulosic Ethanol Facility
• Nevada, Iowa
• Operational Date: Q4 2014
• Capacity: 120 M L yr-1
Abengoa -- Bioenergy Hugoton Cellulosic Ethanol Facility
• Location: Hugoton, Kansas
• Operational Date: Q2 2014
• Capacity: 100 M L yr-1 plus 21 megawatts of renewable electricity
Commercial scale advanced
biorefineries in US
Creating Sustainable Supply
Chains for Cellulosic Biofuels
• The US Air Force, Navy, Army and Marine Corps: very ambitious targets to reduce dependence on fossil fuels and to develop renewable fuels
• US Navy and the US Marine Corps: 50% of its total energy from alternative sources by 2020
• US army plans to use 25% renewable energy by 2025
• Marines will demonstrate the Great Green Fleet, by 2016
The US DoD recently awarded $210 M to the following companies to build biorefineries:
• Emerald Biofuels
• Fulcrum BioEnergy
• Red Rock Bio
Cost-competitive (<$3.50 per gallon; $0.88 L-1) drop-in military biofuels - 400 million L yr-1
US Military
Commercial scale:
Enerkem – Alberta Innovates
• Edmonton (municipal waste)
• Operational (opened in June 2014)
Enerkem - GreenField Ethanol Inc
• Varennes, Quebec (waste from institutional, commercial and industrial sectors as well as construction and demolition debris)
• In construction
Both 38 M L yr-1
Enerkem has demonstration plants: Westbury and Mississippi
Advanced biorefineries in Canada
22
February 12, 2014:
“On a national scale (in Canada), the entire renewable fuels industry contributes $3.5 billion to the economy. ….
Ultimately, the enhanced biofuels sector has created thousands of jobs and serves as a driver of economic activity in Western Canada.”
Quote from Hon. JoAnne L. Buth (Senator).
Renewable Fuels
Source: http://www.canadianbiomassmagazine.ca/content/view/4462/132/
• Fracking leads to increased production
• Saudis pumping to maintain market share – Can profit at $15 per barrel
– Need $100 per barrel to meet in-country commitments
• Storage capacity is saturating
• Iran coming “on-line”
• In longer term, is non-renewable
• In Canada: – At this point there is protection
– As oil prices fall there is increasing support
– The effect is not large
• New federal government in Canada and new emphasis on reduction of greenhouse gas emissions
Oil and Environmental Costs
Thank you!
514-508-2884 / [email protected] / www.biofuelnet.ca
Dr. Donald Smith President & Scientific Director
BioFuelNet Canada