Background on seven SDTC-funded projects completed in 2005
The following is a brief outline on the work done by seven SDTC-funded companies that have taken their technologies past the stage of development and demonstration and are progressing toward commercialization.
Carmanah Technologies Inc. – Victoria, B.C.
Carmanah is demonstrating an adaptation of solar powered LED technology for edge-lit signage such as roadway hazard lights. This project is expected to enable solar powered lighting to enter mainstream applications. The energy consumption for its technology will be about 10 per cent of that used by other products. This edge-lit signage technology follows Carmanah’s tradition of creating proprietary solar-powered LED technology to produce cost-effective, energy-efficient lighting for marine navigation buoys, roadway hazard lights, railway lights and other industrial applications around the world. Although LED-based lighting technology is developing rapidly, it hasn't been widely used for illuminating signs due to the poor performance of LED backlighting. Carmanah plans to develop techniques and materials that will evenly reflect the LED light from the edges, producing a more practical and attractive illuminated sign to be used on highways and roads around the world. The lighting units will be designed to produce light for more than five years without the need to upgrade or recharge.
DynaMotive Energy Systems Corporation – Vancouver, B.C.
DynaMotive develops systems that convert organic residues such as forest and agricultural wastes into fuel known as BioOil. Based on a “fast pyrolysis” system called BioTherm, the company’s process takes less than two seconds to produce three main products: BioOil (which can be used as a fuel for power generation in gas turbines, diesel engines and boilers); char (which can be sold as briquettes or used for carbon based filtering); and non-condensable gases, which are recycled and used to power the system. Approximately 75 per cent of the energy required for the pyrolysis process comes from this recycled gas. BioOil is greenhouse gas neutral, does not produce SOx (sulfur dioxide) emissions during combustion and produces approximately half the NOx (nitrogen oxide) emissions compared with fossil fuels. DynaMotive has a demonstration plant in West Lorne, Ont. During its initial production run last year, seven tonnes of biomass produced five tonnes of BioOil and 1.2 tonnes of char. Erie Flooring and Wood Products – one of the project’s consortium partners – provided the wood residue for the project.
Enerkem Technologies Inc., Montreal, P.Q.
Organic matter from landfilled municipal solid waste takes years to degrade and, in doing so, releases methane and carbon dioxide, both GHGs. For communities across Canada this is a local problem with international implications. Enerkem has developed technology that uses “partial oxidation gasification” to dispose of organic material and produce synthetic gas. Most of the gas can be used to produce electricity that can be fed back into power grids; only 10 per cent of it is needed to drive the process. The city of Edmonton is considering Enerkem’s technology for a 10 megawatt power plant. Less than two megawatts will be required to power the process. Presently a 0.5 megawatt pilot project is being run in Sherbrooke P.Q. Unlike other processes in place elsewhere, Enerkem’s solution is designed to condition the gas after gasification to remove impurities. The system is smaller and more efficient than traditional processes and the resultant gas is as clean as natural gas. Enerkem is also working on catalysts to convert this gas into a variety of compounds including ethanol, methanol and diesel fuel. In the short term, the gas will be used to produce electricity that can be fed back into power grids.
Highmark Renewables Inc., Vegreville, Alta.
The disposal of waste from Canadian cattle operations is a huge environmental issue as witnessed by the events in Walkerton, Ont., when manure runoff was blamed for the e-coli contamination of the community’s water supply. Feedlots traditionally store manure in large lagoons or stockpiles and eventually spread the waste on fields. Highmark has developed an IntegratedManure Utilization System (IMUS)which combines biogas production with manure handling and fertilizer production technologies. An anaerobic digester extracts methane from the manure to power electricity generators. The pilot plant, which started generating electricity in 2005 in Vegreville, will generate enough electricity (one megawatt) to power a town of about 2000 people. The manure comes from 36,000 head of cattle, though presently the plant is using only 15 per cent of it to generate power. Plant capacity can be expanded to three megawatts. Additionally, commercial-grade fertilizer is being produced and the clean residual water released from the process is being used for irrigation.
Hydrogenics Corporation, Mississauga, Ont.
Though Canada is a leader in fuel cell technology, most developments have been driven by military requirements and as such economic benefits have taken a back seat. Hydrogenics, however, has shifted its attention to markets with specific business needs such as the forklift industry. At first glance, one might assume there is little demand for fuel cells in this market segment, but with businesses consolidating and supply chain management becoming an integral part of business success, efficiently managing forklifts in large warehouses takes on greater importance. Traditional forklift batteries start to lose power half way through an eight hour shift and can take over 20 minutes to change batteries, both factors significantly impacting productivity. The degradation of power has gone so far as to influence the way warehouses manage stock. Because the forklift power degrades quickly, heavy and high-up stock is moved first, since it requires more power to load and unload. Hydrogenics’ technology solves three problems with its patented fuel cell power package. First, fuel cell power provides continuous full power so long as there is hydrogen in the onboard cylinder; second, the fuel cell can operate longer before requiring a refill of hydrogen fuel than batteries can operate before requiring a battery change; and third, the refill process, with pressurized hydrogen, takes only a couple of minutes. Hydrogenics has also developed on-site hydrogen generation systems. Working deployments of the forklifts and refueler took place at General Motors of Canada and FedEx Canada operations in the Toronto area. Like many players in this space, Hydrogenics is looking down the road toward the “Holy Grail” of the industry – a long-life, high-performance fuel cell for automobiles.
Mikro-Tek Inc., Timmins, Ont.
Plant life is the largest consumer of carbon dioxide on the planet. Increasing the number and growth rate of plants is an effective method of reducing GHGs. In Canada there are large swaths of land where grass and plants do not grow easily, whether for lack of natural nutrients or because human intervention - such as dumping mining tailings or laying natural gas pipelines – has impacted soil quality. One solution would be to fertilize the soil, but this is very expensive and not particularly effective. Mikro Tek has developed a technology to increase carbon sequestration by applying naturally-occurring soil fungi called mycorrhizae to root stock. The mycorrhizae colonize root tissues prior to planting. The resultant symbiotic mycorrhizal/plant root association allows the host plant to increase moisture and nutrient uptake from the soil, which in turn results in increased plant growth and survival in areas previously too barren to support plant life. As part its SDTC-funded project, Mikro-Tek is collecting field data to verify the technology’s ability to increase carbon sequestration. Initial test plots have been established in agricultural and mine land-reclamation sites in Northern Ontario. Additional sites are planned for establishment on highway, pipeline and electrical transmission right-of-way corridors.
Paradigm Environmental Technologies Inc., Vancouver, B.C.
Municipal waste water treatment plants produce greenhouse gases (GHGs) in three main ways: they consume large amounts of electricity to operate the facilities, especially to run anaerobic digesters; the treatment process itself generates carbon dioxide which is released into the atmosphere; and micro organisms contained in the sludge decompose to create methane. Effective conversion of the micro-organisms (waste activated sludge or WAS) to biogas in an anaerobic digester and converting the biogas to energy are the two most important steps that a waste water treatment plant can take to reduce its GHG footprint. MicroSludge is a technology developed by Paradigm Environmental Technologies Inc., of Vancouver, to enable anaerobic digesters to work better at municipal wastewater treatment plants. MicroSludge chemically pre-treats sludge and then liquefies it using a high pressure homogenizer. The liquefied sludge is then fed to an existing anaerobic digester at the wastewater treatment plant. Typically just 15 to 30 per cent of the solids in WAS are converted to biogas after 15 days in an anaerobic digester; with Microsludge that number climbs to 95 per cent. The result is that three to six times more waste is converted to biogas, instead of being shifted to landfills where it decomposes and releases methane into the atmosphere. A full-scale demonstration has been set up at the Chilliwack, B.C. waste water treatment plant, which achieved a net energy gain of 210 kWh per dry tonne of WAS processed. The MicroSludge solution can easily be deployed at existing or new wastewater treatment facilities. For a municipal wastewater treatment plant serving a city of one million people, MicroSludge can greatly reduce the amount of sludge being incinerated or going to landfills. From a GHG perspective, this would be equivalent to removing more than 19,000 cars from the road.
For more information, please contact:
SDTC:
Andrée Mongeon
Director of Communications
Sustainable Development Technology Canada
Tel: (613) 234-6313 x 224
Prepared on April 18, 2006
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