Catalytic Hydroreforming Gasification of Low-Value Forest Biomass to Novel High-Value Biofuels (Hythane and Hydrochar)

The increasing use of fossil fuels, greenhouse gas emissions, global warming, and ineffective waste management are critical socio-environmental issues today. Canada has 9% of the world’s forests, and Nova Scotia alone has 75% of its landmass covered with forests. With only 0.5% of the world’s population, Canada has more per capita agroforestry biomass than any other country. This presents a unique opportunity for Canada to take the lead in achieving net zero emissions by producing, adopting, and utilizing bioenergy from agroforestry residues. Although forestry biomass contains essential substrates to produce biofuels, the challenge lies in developing efficient extraction and conversion processes to match societal and industrial needs.

This program addresses the dual challenge of providing affordable clean energy while tackling the waste management crisis.

This project will develop and demonstrate a novel hydrothermal gasification process to valorize Nova Scotia’s low-grade forestry biomass including charred wood from wildfires into gaseous biofuels and biocarbon with appropriate technology readiness for industry adoption and commercial use in existing fuel/power infrastructures. The long-term goal is to transform woody biomass into industrially viable biofuels such as hythane (a mixture of hydrogen and methane as a substitute for natural gas) and hydrochar (an eco-friendly substitute for coal).

This will be achieved through an environmentally friendly and innovative catalytic hydroreforming gasification process. The short-term goals are to discover the effects of woody biomass properties and gasification conditions for maximum conversion to bioenergy products, develop a deep understanding of product yield and quality, and demonstrate process scalability and emission reduction through lifecycle analysis.

This project is highly original with fundamental and practical significance. My program strategically targets hard- to-abate greenhouse gas emissions and supports Canada’s mandates for decarbonization, clean energy, circular bioeconomy, and waste valorization to create new market opportunities for bioresource sectors and cleantech businesses in Nova Scotia.