Category Archives: green energy

A sweet market for crop residues

Biorefining company expands partnership with local crop farmers with new glucose-processing facility

By Matt McIntosh

Sarnia – Making more money on the same amount of land – it’s a mantra for today’s farmers, and one that’s increasingly relevant as land prices and production costs continue to rise.

A Sarnia refining company is helping local farmers expand their return per acre by providing a market for an otherwise low-value material: the corn stalks and wheat stubble left over after harvest.

With planning for a new facility well underway, Comet Biorefining is expanding its partnership with Ontario farmers who are members of the Cellulosic Sugar Producers’ Cooperative – a partnership that started in 2014 – to turn an additional 60,000 tonnes of crop residue into 30,000 tonnes of cellulosic dextrose, or industrial processing sugar, each year. Continue reading →

From waste to wealth: transforming greenhouse waste into energy

Animesh Dutta

By Jane Robinson

Guelph – When Animesh Dutta ponders the problems of the world, he lands on energy security, food security and climate change. The University of Guelph researcher’s latest project holds promise for addressing all three.

As professor and director of the Bio-Renewable Innovation Lab in the School of Engineering, Dutta focuses on taking waste from farms or food processors and finding the best solution to convert it into renewable energy that will maximize the economics.

When he started working on bioenergy, Dutta saw the benefits of creating a renewable source of energy that didn’t interfere with food production.

“The economics don’t seem to be there for using feedstock for bioenergy,” he says. “You have to purchase the raw product and farmers want a price for their biomass crop that is higher than the value of the bioenergy it makes.” Continue reading →

London company derives green energy and fertilizer from food waste

By Matt McIntosh

London ON – Food waste is a big issue, but StormFisher Environmental, a London-area green energy company, is turning part of the problem into an environmental positive.

Using once-edible food from Ontario processors, grocery stores, and restaurants, the company produces organic-based fertilizer that can be used by landscapers to beautify lawns, and farmers to grow crops. Generating electricity from biogas – a key byproduct of producing the fertilizer – is also a key part of the business.

“Generating biogas and turning it into a renewable fuel is well-known technology, and there’s a real need here for the sustainable disposal of organic waste […] our design fits well” says Chris Guillon, vice-president of StormFisher Environmental.

Each year, the company converts about 80,000 tonnes of food waste into enough energy to power about 3,000 homes, and make 2,000 tonnes of organic-based fertilizer. Electricity is fed back into the provincial grid, while the fertilizer is all locally sold. Continue reading →

Northern communities to benefit from local-made fuel initiative

lew-christopher-web

Prof. Lew Christopher

By Lisa McLean for AgInnovation Ontario

Thunder Bay – For remote Northern Ontario communities, getting fuel isn’t easy. Large quantities of petrodiesel are routinely flown long distances, at significant financial and environmental expense.

Now, a new partnership between researchers and community representatives offers a unique solution: make energy-efficient biodiesel in the community where it will be used.

The project is called the Sustainable Energy Community Initiative for Northern Ontario (SECINO) and is being led by Dr. Lew Christopher, who heads up the Biorefining Research Institute (BRI) at Thunder Bay’s Lakehead University. Continue reading →

Start your engines: The 200,000-acre promise

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This article is from Soy 20/20, one of the AgInnovation Ontario partner organizations.

By Lisa McLean for Soy 20/20

A California tech company is driving towards a piece of the lucrative motor oil market with a clean-running product that outperforms its premium synthetic petroleum counterparts.

The motor oil – which utilizes oil from high oleic soybeans, a crop rich in Omega 9 fatty acids – offers promise to Canadian soybean farmers interested in growing premium beans.

Greg Blake, Senior Vice President of Biosynthetic Technologies, discussed his company’s product at the 25th Canadian Conference on Fats and Oilseeds held in Quebec City October 5-6.

Blake says his company has studied non-food oil products for many years, and its researchers have successfully managed to overcome the challenges associated with using vegetable oil in motor oil and other demanding lubricant applications. Continue reading →