Innovation Roadmap on Bio-based Feedstocks, Fuels and Industrial Products — Preface

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A network of business people, academics, government personnel and consultants who have expertise and a strong interest in the bio-based economy (see Annex A) and "Thinking Green" have developed this Innovation Roadmap on Bio-based Feedstocks, Fuels and Industrial Products: Capturing Canada's Natural Advantage. These individuals have participated in the steering committee, the working groups and workshops to develop and chart the way forward.

The objective of the innovation roadmap is to identify technology-based opportunities for utilizing Canada's abundant bioresources in order to grow the economy while protecting the environment and our quality of life. The roadmap report covers a number of chemical and bioconversion technologies, and identifies both immediate and future markets for the bio-based economy. A recurring theme in this roadmap is that new biotechnologies have the potential to capture economically viable materials and energy from virgin biomass such as primary crops (agricultural, forestry and marine) and from their residual by-products. Another recurring theme is "your waste is my feedstock."

Special thanks go to Randal Goodfellow, of BioProducts Canada Inc., for assistance in engaging participants, and also to David Layzell and Susan Wood of the BIOCAP Foundation, who worked miracles to document extensively the biomass inventories that are available as feedstocks and to convert this inventory into both dry carbon equivalents and potential energy. This innovation roadmap would not have been possible without funding from the Canadian Climate Change Action Plan 2000, the support and collaboration of departments on the Federal Working Group on Bioproducts, and the high energy and active participation of our workshop participants and project manager Joseph Cunningham.

The Way Ahead — It Is Already Happening!

Energy is central to Canada's sustained economic growth, and it is becoming progressively harder or more costly to extract from fossil sources. Demand for energy worldwide is expected to continue to grow rapidly in the foreseeable future.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) forecasts that the world will require 50 percent more energy over present consumption levels by 2020. Global pressure is building to allocate fossil fuels more wisely and to develop ways to diminish existing dependencies and vulnerabilities. As the amount of readily available oil, especially in OPEC countries, is depleting, oil prices will increase, and spikes in energy prices will become even more pronounced. The conflict between demand and availability could conceivably become more severe in the next 20 years, resulting in a major shift into future fuels and highly efficient energy systems such as fuel cells, small- to medium-scale distributed cogeneration systems and biofuels (biogases, biodiesel, bio-oils and alcohol).

Biofuels and bioproducts are strategically important to Canada. There are several successful Canadian companies actively engaged in this field. Canada is in an excellent position to benefit with its resource base, expertise and developing community-based eco-industrial clusters. The biomass opportunity will provide new revenue streams for the traditional agricultural, forestry and marine resource sectors and communities.

Major benefits can be derived from Canada's exceptionally large biomass resource — Canada's Natural Advantage. For instance, the BIOCAP Foundation estimates that our standing forests have an energy content that is equal to 69 years of Canada's current energy demand now being met by fossil fuels.

Due to a highly unstable global energy market as well as large spikes in oil and natural gas prices, Canada is at a tipping point regarding future fuel developments. Action must be taken now. Substantial biofuel opportunities both now and in the near-term future are ours to lose despite our abundant biomass resources and strong competitive advantages, especially in the physical, chemical and thermal conversion of primary and residual biomass to bio-based energy and industrial products.

The business case for future biofuel and bioproduct developments, however, needs to be better developed and communicated widely. The roadmap focusses on taking advantage of commercial opportunities, increasing biomass productivity and capturing value from agriculture, forestry, marine industries and municipal solid waste. Canadian companies are exceptionally well positioned to capture strong financial and economic returns from these materials. The return on investment is healthy for many Canadian companies in this business. Industry research and development is close to the market and is, in many cases, at a strong commercialization phase.

A transition is occurring in Canada from our current excellence in physical, chemical and thermal conversion technologies to a greater longer-term emphasis on bioprocesses and "green" chemistry, which are much less energy intensive and less polluting. The body of this innovation roadmap discusses this transition and multidisciplinary approaches involving biotechnology, nanotechnology, biology, chemistry, physics, engineering, rheology and mathematics in greater detail. The specific working group reports, which have been circulated to all participants, provide more comprehensive discussions on both chemical and biological technologies.

This innovation roadmap recommends several specific actions that should take place in order to grow the biofuels and bioproducts industries. The following key action items are elaborated in the main body of the report:

• community-based eco-industrial clusters pilot project
• government procurement
• creation of a BioProducts Industry Council
• greater capital availability
• greater migration of the technology platforms to market-driven commercialization initiatives
• greater engagement and awareness of the public.

This roadmap is a "living" process that allows industry players to work with governments and academia to design their own longer-term plans. This report suggests various technology and market-driven pathways. It also suggests specific actions for both the short and the long term that could be followed. The production of this document is one point on the road in a long journey. New technologies and innovative uses of biomass will continue to evolve from the discussions that our network or community of practice has initiated.

The roadmap brought together a group of individuals (see Annex A) representing a wide range of different interests comprising chemical conversions, combustion, bioprocesses, harvesting and distribution technologies, agriculture, forestry, municipalities and marine life. The synergy developed through this roadmap needs to be continued and developed further through sustained interactions and networking among the participants, who have contributed an enormous amount of their time and resources to this effort. We are forming the BioProducts Industry Council to focus the efforts of industry, the research community and government on the implementation of the roadmap. The council proposes to meet with the Minister of Industry and officials to review progress on a regular basis, identify barriers and provide advice on policies that can help grow a sustainable bioproducts industry in Canada.

The Stone Age did not end for a lack of stones, and the oil age will end not for a lack of oil.

Sheik Yamani, Saudi oil minister, 1973

We stopped using stone because bronze and iron were superior materials, and likewise we will stop using oil when other energy technologies provide superior benefits.

Bjørn Lomborg, The Skeptical Environmentalist (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2001), p. 120

Thank You!

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