Novel fluidized bed reactors for thermo-catalytic conversion of biomass residues to bioenergy, biofuels and biochemicals

世纪的三大挑战是粮食安全、气候变化和能源可持续性。生物能源是一种很有前途的可再生能源，净二氧化碳排放量低，如果经济，环境和社会影响得到适当管理，则具有潜在的可持续性。加拿大有丰富的森林和农业生物质残留物，有可能取代目前仅BC省消耗的50%以上的化石燃料。到目前为止，只有不到20%被加工成颗粒并出口到欧洲，而加拿大的温室气体减排没有好处。我们最近的生命周期分析显示，出口的球团矿中约有25%的化石燃料含量，主要与海洋运输和致密化有关。因此，为国内市场开发清洁和经济上可行的生物质转化技术对于促进加拿大当地利用生物质残余物至关重要。

The three major challenges in the 21st century are food security, climate change and energy sustainability. Bioenergy is one promising renewable energy source, with low net CO2 emissions and potentially sustainable if the economical, environmental and social impacts are properly managed. There are abundant forest and agricultural biomass residues in Canada, with a potential to replace more than 50% fossil fuels currently consumed at BC alone. So far, only less than 20% has been processed into pellets and exported to Europe without benefit to GHG reduction in Canada. Our recent life cycle analysis revealed that exported pellets have ~25% fossil fuel content mostly associated with the ocean transport and densification. The development of clean and economically viable biomass conversion technologies for a domestic market is thus imperative to promote the local utilization of biomass residues in Canada.