Grant: Strategic Projects - Group

There have been great interests on the utilization of biomass as a potentially renewable and sustainable energy source for greenhouse gas mitigation in North America. In British Columbia and Quebec, abundantly available biomass residues are potential renewable energy sources if effectively utilized. In BC alone, there are estimated 32 million tones/year of biomass residues available, but only about two million tonnes are made into pellets each year, with majority of them being exported to Europe due to the lack of effective biofuel conversion and pollution control technologies, preventing the development of a sustainable domestic biofuel market. This proposed Canada-Japan joint strategic project will support our recent efforts in developing an energy-efficient fluidized bed torrefaction process for the production of water-resistant, high energy density and durable torrefied wood pellets for domestic applications in thermal power plants. Our Japanese partner at University of Tokyo will focus on energy savings by developing a self-heat recupertive superheated steam drying process, which can potentially cut the drying heat demand by 75%. The Canadian team at the University of British Columbia will focus on developing a novel torrefaction reactor in which heat from the burning of combustible gas vapours generated from the biomass torrefaction is used for torrefaction. In close collaboration, we target to develop a novel energy-efficient biomass densification process for the production of next generation torrefied wood pellets. The successful developments of the 2nd generation torrefied wood pellets and the reduction in energy consumption in the biomass densification process via energy integration and recuperation will enable the development of domestic and global markets for forest and agriculatural biomass residues in Canada and Japan, contributing to the sustainable development of Canadian economy and natural resources while addressing the pressing environmental and global concerns.