One man's garbage is another's gold

A pile of manure. A heap of sawdust. Oozing sludge left over at a sewage-treatment plant. To most people, these are just unappetizing waste products.

But some Canadians look at this "garbage" and think there's money to be made. These are the scientists and entrepreneurs who are, slowly but surely, advancing Canada's presence in the world's growing biomass market.

Biomass refers to plant and animal waste used to produce energy. It includes crops grown specifically for this purpose as well as forestry, agricultural and urban waste.

Wind and solar power have a much higher profile as sources of renewable energy. Yet, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists, based in the United States, biomass provides almost 30 times more energy to Americans than wind and solar power combined.

In the past, the most common way of using biomass has been to burn it. Now, however, focus has expanded to the development of technology that will not only maximize energy production and reduce pollution but also find additional means of profiting from biomass.

Ottawa-based Ensyn Corp. converts wood waste into liquid fuel and value-added chemicals such as resins for plywood, emulsifiers for asphalt and even natural food flavourings. Ensyn's patented technology blasts solid wood waste with a heated sand-like substance and, seconds later, cools it down. What's left is bio-oil, a liquid that looked like espresso.

One of the first buyers Ensyn found for some of the many chemical compounds in bio-oil was Red Arrow, a U.S. company that makes barbecue flavourings.

Alliances like the one with Red Arrow "mean everything to us," says Robert Graham, co-founder and chief executive officer of Ensyn. "These companies pull the products into the marketplace rather than us having to push them."

Patience and flexibility have been key to the company's success. "Anyone who's worked in product development in a new area knows that it dies 10 times before it lives once," Dr. Graham says with a knowing laugh. "You've got to steel yourself against rejection."

Ivanhoe Energy Inc. of Vancouver was so impressed by how thermochemical technology could increase heavy-oil production that it bought Ensyn's petroleum division for $85-million (U.S.) in 2004. The next big step will be opening Ensyn's seventh commercial plant, in Renfrew, Ont. It is another means of wooing investors by showing production in action on a 24-7 basis.

"They can see that we're not just a research project," Dr. Graham says.

For biomass companies at earlier stages of development, a key challenge is proving they have the entrepreneurial know-how to take a great idea from the laboratory and move it into the marketplace.

That's where Sustainable Development Technologies Canada comes in. The non-profit foundation, established in 2001 with funding from the federal government, has a mandate to assist the final stages of commercialization: building strategic relationships, formalizing business plans.

That's the make-it-or-break-it point, says Ted Ferguson, vice-president of the Delphi Group, an Ottawa-based consulting firm that advises clients on energy technology.

"The innovators are brilliant people in their own right, but it takes a lot of soft people skills to take the merits of the technology and communicate it to the market, to investors, to government -- to pull it all together into one package," Mr. Ferguson says.

Chris Boivin, a clean-energy specialist at the Delphi Group, works with biomass companies getting SDTC support, including Highmark Renewables, an Alberta company that generates electricity from decomposing manure, and Paradigm Environmental Technologies, a B.C. enterprise that harnesses gas from the sludge left over at waste-water treatment plants.

Despite Canada's momentum in the biomass field, however, Mr. Boivin believes it is lagging behind Europe.

"Germany, for instance, has had all kinds of incentives," he says. "The traditionally higher energy costs (in Europe) make it easier for taxpayers to support government programs that bridge the gap between traditional and renewable energy sources. And the denser population means it's more tangible for (Europeans) to see environmental degradation and the impact it's having on their day-to-day life."

For lots of Canadians, there's nothing more tangible than filling up their gas tanks and handing over their credit cards. Over the next few years, this transaction is likely to become a regular biomass purchase for many consumers.

In Ontario, the province has mandated an average 5-per-cent ethanol in all gasoline by the beginning of 2007. Initially, most will come from corn, but Ottawa-based Iogen Corp. is betting it can offer an alternative that is even more attractive environmentally.

Since the 1970s, Iogen has been perfecting an enzyme that used to be called jungle rot by troops in Guam during the Second World War because it would eat away at tents and shirts. The enzyme, it turns out, is also effective in converting straw's cellulose into sugar, which is then fermented into ethanol.

Iogen is ready to take the penultimate step in bringing its cellulose ethanol to consumers. It is negotiating with governments in Canada, the United States and Germany over where to build its first commercial plant. In a nutshell, the first country to come up with the best offer will get the first plant.

Commercialization can be a tough nut to crack, says the Delphi Group's Mr. Ferguson. "Most people aren't going to pay extra just because a product is environmentally friendly." So it's imperative that biomass companies hone their technologies to the point that their prices are competitive.

But Mr. Ferguson remains confident that pursuing this balancing act is a win-win proposition for the environment and for entrepreneurs. "Because with something like biomass," he says, "the sources of it are everywhere, in communities of all shapes and all sizes."

Energy from matter

Traditionally, bio materials have been burned to produce heat. Now they can be converted into gaseous, liquid or solid fuels.

Sources of biomass

Trees: Fast growers such as poplar, maple and willow.

Grasses: Thin-stemmed perennial grasses such as switchgrass and big bluestem, which can be harvested for as long as 10 years before replanting.

Oil plants: Sunflowers and soybeans, which produce oil.

Other crops: Corn and sorghum.

Wastes: Residues from the forestry, agricultural and manufacturing industries. Also city waste such as garbage and sewage.

How it's transformed

The conversion of biomass can be done in three ways:

Thermochemical: When plant matter is heated but not burned it breaks down into various gases, liquids, and solids. These products can then be processed into methane and alcohol. Biomass gasifiers capture methane released from plants and burn it in a gas turbine to make electricity.

Biochemical: Bacteria, yeasts and enzymes break down carbohydrates. Fermentation changes biomass liquids into alcohol, which can be burned.

Chemical: Soybean and canola oils can be chemically converted into a liquid fuel similar to diesel fuel, and into gasoline additives.