Nova Scotia iHub intends to attract proposals to construct a biorefinery

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Nova Scotia, one of the four provinces which form Atlantic Canada, is aware that the emerging global bioeconomy represents an opportunity for its renewable bioresource sector that is formed by several subsectors (forest, agricultural, ocean and municipal solid waste). The first one of them is undergoing an unprecedented period of structural change in Canada. A new industry is raising to make sustainable use of wood, but the right actions must be taken to nurture and support successful transformation. In that context, stakeholders in the energy, forest research and economic development sectors have joined with the Nova Scotia Department of Natural Resources (NSDNR) to create the Nova Scotia Innovation Hub (iHub).

iHub is primary aimed to attract proponents interested in constructing a biorefinery in the province. To this end, FPInnovations and BioApplied have been mandated to provide NSDNR and other stakeholders with factual information on feedstocks, market access and financial opportunities that could benefit the province’s bioresource sector. Seven projects (Governance, Feedstocks, Biofuels, Industrial and Technological Benefits, Supply Chain, Modelling, Operations and Outreach) were undertaken in the first year to assess Nova Scotia’s current value proposition to potential proponents and to identify strategies to improve competitiveness. The results have been set up in this easy-to-read report: “Value Proposition for a Biorefinery Sector in Nova Scotia” (18/01/2017).

Figure 1. Cover photo of the report “Value Proposition for a Biorefinery Sector in Nova Scotia”

I would just like to highlight some interesting points about the results of the projects Feedstocks and Biofuels.

Feedstocks
  • Seven potential sites for establishing a biorefinery were identified across the province.
  • Each of the seven sites would have more than sufficient volumes of feedstock available to supply a commercial biorefinery. The Ensyn plant under construction in Quebec was taken as one of the references for this analysis (see previous post about this project).
  • Current and future prospects of supporting a biorefinery investment will be impacted by provincial policy planning and developments in the private sector. For example, there are 510,000 dry tons per year of harvest residues that could be sustainably recovered if forest management policy would allow for it and proper contractor infrastructure was in place.
  • The feedstock is available at a price comparable to neighboring jurisdictions.
Biobased Fuels
  • This project assessed the size of the local market for petroleum fuels and the existing supply chain for opportunities to introduce a new liquid biofuel (biodiesel).
  • 4 billion liters of petroleum fuel is consumed in Nova Scotia annually, 720 million liters of which is in the marine and heating fuel markets. If Nova Scotia were to introduce a 5% mandate for biodiesel, the result would be the de-risking of a significant portion of a future commercial biorefinery’s output.
  • The report emphasizes the importance of policy, prices, technology and local market opportunities.

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