Canadian Biomass • July August 2016 • Industry News

Over 250 biomass professionals met in Québec City in June for the inaugural Residual Forestry Biomass Heating Conference organized by the Québec Wood Export Bureau, Vision Biomasse Québec and the Wood Pellet Association of Canada.

The event featured high-ranking government officials including Pierre Arcand, Québec’s Minister of Natural Resources and Energy, who showed up to launch the conference.

Arcand stated that the province is on its way to “decarbonizing” its economy. Québec’s new energy transition plan states that the province needs to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 37.5 per cent, use 25 per cent more renewable energies and 50 per cent more bioenergies by 2030. To achieve this goal, Québec will create Transition énergétique Québec, which will manage a $4-billion budget to fund energy efficiency and sustainable projects submitted for residential, business or public organizations.

But can forest biomass compete against other energy sources? From an economic standpoint, biomass is less expensive than any other energy source, notes Jean-Pierre Bourque, industrial advisor for the Ministry of Forest, Wildlife and Parks (MFWP).

“The effective cost of biomass is very competitive for heating purposes,” he said. “For example, electricity is the most expensive at $86/MWh, and biomass is the least expensive at $17.12/MWh [not including processing].”

Although it is the cheapest energy, investing in new equipment, like a boiler, greatly increases biomass conversion project costs. This is why funding those projects is vital, and government subsidies often make the difference.

While Québec’s subsidy programs has rapidly run dry, Fondaction, a workers’ union fund, Investissement Québec and the Fédération des coopératives forestières du Québec created the Biomass Energy Fund, with a $20.2-million capitalization, to offer professional advice and money for conversion projects.

Furthermore, Fondaction will invest $50 million in greenhouse gas reduction projects over the next two years, stated Claire Bisson, assistant chief investor for Fondaction. When reviewing which biomass heating projects to fund, Fondaction first looks for stable biomass supplies, proven technologies and available expertise. For the healthy development of the biomass sector, better and more specialized training must be provided to the emerging workforce.

To reach its 37.5 per cent GHG reduction target by 2030, Quebec will need to displace oil and propane, but also natural gas, according to Normand Mousseau, professor and Canada Research Chair in Computational Physics of Complex Materials, at l’Université de Montreal. Even if there is still a lot of work to be done to fully develop the biomass sector in Québec, some businesses are ready to take risks to save some money and develop new markets. This is what Fromagerie Boivin, a cheese-making company in Saguenay did in 2008, when they invested in a 800-hp boiler.

Fromagerie Boivin’s goal was to evaporate lactoserum, a milk byproduct, into powder to reach animal food markets.

Norforce Énergie also developed a new business model to implement biomass-heating projects in mines.

Since 2013, their turnkey solutions have become a success at the Casa Berardi mine.

Canfor is looking at the possibility of converting pulp mill wood waste into biocrude on a commercial scale with the construction of a biocrude plant in Prince George, B.C.

Earlier this year, Canfor formed a joint venture with Licella Fibre Fuels, the Australian start-up behind a process that transforms biomass waste from paper-making into stable biocrude oil. The biocrude can be fed into existing petrochemical refinery streams to produce renewable fuels. Licella has been running trials on the technology at Canfor’s Prince George mills since 2013.

Over the next few years, Canfor hopes to integrate the technology into its existing pulp mills and funnel the waste, as well as virgin fibre, into an estimated $70-million crude oil processing facility that could have a production capacity of more than 400,000 barrels of biofuel per year.

“Biofuels and biochemicals represent the next frontier in the utilization of sustainable wood fibre to produce green energy and chemicals,” said CPPI CEO Don Kayne. “This initiative underscores Can for Pulp’s commitment to innovation and the importance of green energy and chemicals in our future product mix, and we look forward to developing this potentially transforming technology with Licella.”

Pinnacle Renewable Energy Inc. has curtailed operations at its Quesnel, B.C., pellet plant.

Several factors contributed to the decision to close the plant. One key element was that the plant, first opened in 1988, was designed to process a diet of dry residuals from the local sawmills.

“That source of fibre is no longer available,” said Leroy Reitsma, president of Pinnacle. “As a result, there is currently no secure, sustainable, economically available fibre to support the operation of the Quesnel mill.”

The Mountain Pine Beetle infestation has created an inventory of standing timber that, while useless as sawlogs, is suitable for wood pellet manufacturing.

Pinnacle will continue to work with tenure holders and the provincial government to determine whether secure access to non-sawlog standing timber can be achieved within an economically viable framework.

However, significant capital upgrades are also necessary at the Quesnel plant in order to be able to economically, efficiently and safely process this new fibre source into wood pellets.

“We believe it makes sense right now to take the time to do the analysis required to determine the scope and feasibility of making those upgrades. This period of curtailment is necessary to do that work,” Reitsma said. “We share our employees’ desire for certainty. We have not come to this decision lightly and will be working to minimize the duration of this decision to nine to 10 months.”

Pinnacle Renewable Energy Inc. is the longest-established wood pellet producer in Western Canada. Founded in Quesnel in 1988, Pinnacle runs seven pellet plants throughout B.C., producing more than one-and-a-half million tonnes annually, and employing more than 250 people.

Murray McLaughlin has stepped down as the executive director of Bioindustrial Innovation Canada (BIC), but will continue on in the role of government and partner relations.

Effective July 1, Sandy Marshall took over the position of executive director. Marshall brings a strong industry background to the role, having spent 30 years in various capacities with Polysar, Bayer, and Lanxess. Marshall has been a member of the BIC board since 2008 and the chairperson for the last three years. Marshall has a strong understanding of the organization and its role.

“I am very excited about this opportunity to grow BIC into the future,” Marshall said. “Murray has done an outstanding job as executive director building BIC and I look forward to his continued support and mentorship.”

Bill White will replace Marshall as chairperson of the BIC board. White is the retired president of Du- Pont Canada and has held a variety of global business unit leadership roles in his 34 years with E.I. DuPont de Nemours.

With the recently announced funding for BIC from the province of Ontario, McLaughlin felt it was time for fresh leadership to continue to grow BIC and the portfolio for the Sustainable Chemistry Alliance Investment Fund.

The Governments of Canada and Quebec will provide $76.5 million in funding to AE Côte-Nord Canada Bioenergy Inc. for the production of renewable fuel oil from forest residues.

Canada’s Minister of Natural Resources, the Honourable Jim Carr, and Laurent Lessard, Quebec’s Minister of Forests, Wildlife and Parks, made the announcement on July 13 in Port-Cartier, Que.

The Port-Cartier plant will be the first commercial-scale facility of this kind in Quebec. The goal of the project is to convert forest residues into 40 million litres of renewable fuel oil per year. When upgraded into transportation fuels, this will remove up to 70,000 tonnes of CO2-equivalent emissions per year. Production of renewable fuel oil is set to begin in 2017.

The Government of Canada is providing $44.5 million for this project, through a $27-million investment from Sustainable Development Technology Canada and $17.5 million from Natural Resources Canada’s Investments in Forest Industry Transformation program.

The Government of Quebec is contributing $32 million to the project, including $10 million from Investissement Québec. To ensure the fibre supply for the project, in March the Quebec Ministry of Forests, Wildlife and Parks reserved 170,000 green tonnes of residues from government forests for the plant.

Through an alliance of three companies — Ensyn Bioenergy Canada, Arbec Forest Products and Rémabec Group — the private sector is demonstrating its substantial involvement with the confirmation of a $27.4-million investment.

The project’s renewable fuel oil is a cleaner alternative to conventional fossil fuels; it reduces greenhouse gas emissions by 70 to 90 per cent compared with fossil fuels and has a multitude of uses, including for heating and the production of transportation fuels.