$48M supports research into clean technologies

Ottawa, ON – Twenty-two projects focussed on developing and demonstrating clean technologies have received a total of $48 million in funding from Sustainable Development Technology Canada.

The money includes $7.3 million for four biofuel technology projects ranging from the production of ethanol from cellulose to biodiesel production from mustard seed.

For the first time, SDTC has approved funding for soil and water-related projects, with $4 million allocated to five initiatives in this area. SDTC announced its initial call for applications for soil and water projects last year. The funds will go toward the development of monitoring and detection equipment that can help avoid water main breaks, improved agricultural practices and other technologies.

“By supporting clean technologies during the pre-commercialization stage, SDTC helps get them to market faster and more successfully,” says James Stanford, SDTC chairman. “Not only will these technologies increase the efficiency and competitiveness of Canadian industries, but they will also reduce environmental impacts.”

The projects include the following:

1. Lead Organization: Advanced BioRefinery, Ottawa, ON. Project will demonstrate a 50 tonne-per-day, transportable fast pyrolysis system that converts logging residue including slash and bark into an energy-dense, economically transportable bio-liquid.

2. Lead Organization: ARISE Technologies Corp, Kitchener, ON. Project will develop and demonstrate a new approach to refining high purity solar grade silicon feedstock for photovoltaic applications.

3. Lead Organization: Bio Vision Technology, New Minas, NS. Project will demonstrate a biofuel pilot plant that converts renewable biomass (plant material) into feedstocks that can be processed into fuel ethanol and other value-added, co-generated chemical commodities.

4. Lead Organization: Bystronic Solution Centre, Ottawa, ON. Project involves new technique of window fabrication that reduces the energy used in manufacturing, saves material and labour costs, and allows for designs that reduce heat loss by as much as half.

5. Lead Organization: Cerestech, Montreal, QC. Project involves the full-scale, pre-commercial demonstration of an innovative technology that substitutes up to half of synthetic plastic resins with thermoplastic starch in the manufacturing of products such as films, bags and injection-moulded goods.

6. Lead Organization: Chinook Mobile Heating and De-icing, Ottawa, ON. Project will demonstrate an aircraft deicing technology that will significantly reduce the environmental, economic and health costs of deicing compared with current methods employing glycol. The technology uses heated, steam-infused air to melt ice on aircraft surfaces, then heated air alone for drying.

7. Lead Organization: EcoVu Analytics, Ottawa, ON. Project will demonstrate an improved water quality monitoring system utilizing a disruptive technology that concentrates contaminants in the monitoring device.

8. Lead Organization: Ferti-Val, Bromptonville, QC. Project will create fuel by drying municipal bio-solid sludge from wastewater treatment into solids, applying and tailoring an existing European sludge drying technology.

9. Lead Organization: Green Canal Holdings, Hudson Heights, QC. Project will develop and demonstrate a new ventilation technology, “Dynamic Ventilation on Demand” (DVOD), which provides an automated deep mine ventilation control system.

10. Lead Organization: Hydrogenics Corp, Mississauga, ON. Project partners plan to continue their work in the commercialization of fuel cell technology for the material handling industry.

11. Lead Organization: Maritime Innovation, Rimouski, QC. Project will develop two ballast-water treatment technologies (biological de-oxygenation and chemical treatment) and develop a new application for a filtration unit that could be used as a pre-treatment for ships’ ballast water and sediments.

12. Lead Organization: MCW Consultants, Toronto, ON. Project seeks to streamline the process for renewable energy technology installations.

13. Lead Organization: New Energy Corp, Calgary, AB. Project will demonstrate tidal power generation on BC’s coast.

14. Lead Organization: Nutri-Loc Ingredients, Burnaby, BC. Project will demonstrate a technology to dehydrate fruits, vegetables and other products with superior cost efficiency and quality compared with freeze drying.

15. Lead Organization: Ostara Nutrient Recovery Technologies, Vancouver, BC. Project will develop technologies to recover nutrients from liquid sewage and then produce environmentally safe, slow release fertilizer.

16. Lead Organization: Peacock Industries, Hague, SK. Project will co-produce an environmentally friendly organic bio-pesticide and methyl ester (used to produce biodiesel) from mustard seed.

17. Lead Organization: Power Measurement, Saanichton, BC. Project will develop systems consisting of advanced software and energy meters that help commercial and industrial energy consumers improve energy efficiency and reduce energy-related emissions.

18. Lead Organization: The Pressure Pipe Inspection Company, Mississauga, ON. Partners will develop and demonstrate a robotic device that inspects small diameter, pre-stressed cylindrical concrete pipe used for water transmission.

19. Lead Organization: Tantalus Systems Corp, Vancouver, BC. Project combines technologies in advanced metering, wireless communication, and in-home displays to give consumers a real-time measure of their households’ power consumption.

20. Lead Organization: TSC Company, Calgary, AB. Project will demonstrate a novel oil sands mining technology that will significantly increase the rate of bitumen recovery, reduce water usage from the Athabasca River system and, through the recycling of process water, reduce energy requirements and the need for tailings ponds.

21. Lead Organization: Unicell, Toronto, ON. Project will demonstrate the environmental benefits and operational advantages of an all-electric, lightweight composite monocoque urban delivery vehicle in typical Canadian operating conditions.

22. Lead Organization: Wind Smart, Edmonton, AB. Partners are developing a new drive system for wind turbines that will increase power generation compared with gear-driven assemblies while reducing maintenance costs.

SDTC is an arm’s length, not-for-profit corporation that is intended to fill the chain between research and commercialization.