Agri-biomass ready for Canadian launch?

Members of North America's biomass industry are gathering in
the nation's capital this week to discuss the state of the industry. The
conference aims to unite industry experts in an effort to move forward.
Agricultural biomass from crop residues and purpose grown crops is a renewable
source of material that can be transformed into energy, biogas, biochemicals
and bioproducts.

Speakers at the morning session looked at some of the
challenges and opportunities within the industry. Biomass has the potential to
reduce the carbon intensity of our energy, chemicals and consumer products but
an effort must be made to reduce the energy use in the production of biomass
since more than 80 per cent of emissions are in the final stages of production,
according to Dr. Susan Wood-Bohn. Acquiring the materials necessary can require
a lot of fuel use in the shipment of products from farm to factory for
processing.

The carbon that comes from fossil fuels is millennia old while
the carbon that comes from biomass fuel is recently sequestered and will be
resequestered relatively quickly, argued Wood-Bohn. Reducing the amount of fuel
use by locating factories close to material sources will go a long way in
reducing the wasted fuel in the production of biomass.

Another challenge agricultural biomass faces is that the
equipment required to process the material is very expensive and varied –
adding to the challenge of making a business case. Other complexities include
timing issues, weather, transportation and storage issues. Residue management
is a term that will keep cropping up as the industry struggles to get off the
ground.

Though there are challenges for the industry to face, the
overarching mood at the beginning of this conference has been optimism. There
is an opportunity for biomass in Canada that needs to be seized.

Though there are concerns, forestry and agricultural
residuals are the energy source of the future, insists Don McCabe who chaired
the opening plenary. Visit www.canadianbiomassmagazine.ca
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