Bioenergy Inc & Cape Breton U to test torrefaction

Apr. 1, 2011 – Nova Scotia-based 
BioEnergy Inc., in
partnership with Cape Breton University’s Centre for Sustainability in Energy
& the Environment (CSEE) and Target Hydraulics and Machine Works, was awarded
an Atlantic Innovation Fund investment on March 20, valued at $1.7 million over
a three-year period, from the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA). With
this investment, BioEnergy Inc. will construct, test, and commercialize
torrefaction technology, enabling the development of high-value fuels and
carbon-based products.

Torrefaction is a thermal technology
carried out at atmospheric pressure in the absence of oxygen. It creates a
solid product that weighs 30% less than the original biomass, which reduces
feedstock transportation costs by more than 60%.

“Torrefaction could be used across the
region to create new economic activity by producing a cleaner green fuel,” says
Barrie Fiolek, president of BioEnergy Inc.

In 2008, the Atlantica BioEnergy Task Force
recommended torrefaction as an enabling technology for the future
sustainability and competitiveness of the forestry and agriculture industries. This
technology makes use of available, renewable wood and agricultural biomass
feedstock for the production of bioenergy and bioproducts. Now, BioEnergy Inc.
and CSEE will research and demonstrate torrefaction at commercial scale for
increasing the value of available biomass in the region.

For additional information, read BioEnergy and CBU get funding for green energy technology, by Greg McNeil | The Cape Breton Post.