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 / donald.smith@mcgill.ca / www.biofuelnet.ca

Dr. Donald Smith President & Scientific Director

BioFuelNet Canada