Grant: Alliance Grants

This Alliance project ("R&D of Biomaterials from Agricultural/Forest Residues: from Lab-Scale to Pilot-Scale") aims to realize all-component utilization of agricultural/forest residues. Agricultural residues, such as cornstalk and wheat straw, are very abundant in Canada, particularly in Ontario and Prairie Provinces of Canada. It was estimated that about 18 Mt of oven-dried biomass per year could be available for energy and chemical production from Canadian agricultural residues. On the other hand, the Canadian forestry industry generates hundreds of million tonnes of forestry residues such as forest trimmings (e.g. leaves and branches) and sawmill residues (e.g. wood chips, saw dust and bark). Agricultural/forestry residues are typical lignocellulosic biomass, mainly consisting of three components: cellulose (30-50%), hemicellulose (20-30%) and lignin (20-30%), which are bio-polymers of glucose, xylose and phenyl-propanol. Compared with converting biomass to bio-energy or bio-fuel application, it is more economically promising to convert them to high-value bio-polymeric materials. Our industrial partner - Western Maple Bio Resources Inc. (WMB), committing $681,250 cash and over $250,000 in-kind contributions, is enthusiastic to create a new Alliance partnership with Western University to explore transformative technologies to valorize the crude lignin and crude cellulose derived from agricultural/forest residues for innovative biomaterials: inexpensive and biodegradable lignin-based PF floral foams and cellulose-based bioplastics, and to secure funding to move the above mentioned proprietary technology (lignin-based formaldehyde-free wood adhesives) from lab-scale research to pilot-scale development. The long-term objective of this Partnership is to develop an integrated biorefinery process to realize all-component utilization of agricultural/forest residues for high-value biomaterials. Valorization of agricultural/forestry residues for marketable bioproducts would greatly benefit the agricultural sector in Canada and globally by enhancing its sustainability and creating additional revenue streams and new jobs.