Partnership to develop Ontario’s forest bio-economy

Thunder Bay, ON – A new partnership has been created between the Center for Research and Innovation in the Bio-Economy (CRIBE) and FPInnovations, to facilitate the transformation of the Ontario forest sector through the adoption of innovative technologies related to the forest bio-economy.

The partnership is charged with promoting the development of innovative technologies which use renewable resources such as trees and forest bio-residuals. It will use existing infrastructure and engage industrial partners in developing bio-refinery pilot plants to evaluate technologies relevant to the bio-economy. Also supported is the pre-commercial demonstration of bio-economy technologies with a view at attracting new entrants related to the emerging forest-based bio-economy to Northern Ontario.

In partnership with Natural Resources Canada (NRCan), FPInnovations will contribute equally with CRIBE, to the funding required to establish new scientific and technical capacity to support the pre-commercial demonstration of promising technologies related to the forest bio-economy in Northern Ontario. Under this new agreement, each of the parties will contribute up to $1 million per year for the next four years to establish this capacity.

In addition, the parties in conjunction with their respective government partners – NRCan and the Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation – will provide up to $20 million in funding over the next four years towards pre-commercial demonstration projects of promising technologies for Northern Ontario.

“This innovative approach is geared toward developing new scientific and technical capacity using forest biomass, pilot plant capabilities and pre-commercial demonstration projects in Northern Ontario,” said Pierre Lapointe, president and CEO for FPInnovations. “The engineering and technical studies are focussed on three alternatives: lignin, methanol, and hemicellulose. Our aim is to identify technical and business challenges around extracting and reusing these products.”