dr. david c. bressler executive director of the bcn professor, faculty of agricultural, life &...

Dr. David C. Bressler

Executive Director of the BCNProfessor, Faculty of Agricultural, Life &

Environmental Sciences, University of Alberta, Canada

BCN: Supporting the Alberta Bioeconomy

Edmonton

Summer: +30oC

Winter: -30oC

What is Alberta known for?

Changing the Nature of

Biomass• Established in 2009

• Funder:

• BCN 1.0 2009 – 2012 $3.0 million Biomass pre-processing Thermal conversion Chemical conversion Biological conversion

• BCN 2.0 2012 – 2015 $3.8 million Strategic Advisory Board Scientific Committee More elaborate research

themes (coming up)

Mandate Play a pivotal role in cultivating Alberta’s bioindustrial sector by facilitating development of novel, commercially viable biomass

conversion technologies and value-added products

THE BCN MODEL

BCN facilitates multidisciplinary industry-academic collaborations that emphasize innovation and commercialization

Network Core R&D FundingNetworkingBusiness developmentIndustry-academic collaborationsMarket Assessments

Annual Strategic Retreat

Forestry workshopGreen chemistry workshopSeminar hostingAttending conferencesSponsorship of events

University of AlbertaUniversity of CalgaryConcordia UniversityOlds CollegeNorthern Alberta Institute of TechnologyAlberta Innovates Technology Futures

SyngentaSanimaxImperial OilForge HydrocarbonsTerraVerdae BioWorksSaputoDaishowa-Marubeni InternationalWeyerhaeuser

Many more…

BCN: levering investments

Byproducts Utilization

Synthetic Biology

Chemical Platforms

Value-add Opportunities

Biocatalysis & Fermentation

Advanced Bioproducts

BCN projects focus on 3 themes:

Strong Collaborations with Alberta Forestry IndustryByproducts Utilization and Value-Add Opportunities

Tall Oils to Fuels

Terpenes

Lignin Chemistry

Forest Ash Characterization

& Utilization

Mapping and Quantitation of Forestry

Waste Streams

Cellulose Nano-

Crystals

Massive opportunity to integrate with traditional resource industries in Alberta

Hardest to tackle, but most rewardingSynthetic Biology: Biocatalysis and Fermentation

Biopolymers from C1 Substrates

Upcycled Aromatics

Specialty Chemicals

Biodensification of Oil Sands Tailings

Microbial Biosynthesis

of Fatty Alcohols

Phenylalanine derived

chemicals

Submitted a grant for a $12M high-throughput synthetic biology centre

Bio-based materials: most mature sector in bioindustry?Advanced Bioproducts and Chemical Platforms

Bio-Nonanal from Plant Oils

Polysaccharides for Naphthenic Acid Extraction

from Tailings

Novel Flocculants

from Agricultural

Waste Proteins

Bio-polymers

Epoxies

Biodiesel- Derived Glycerin

Lignocellulose Subfractionation

BCN 2.0 Budget R&D: ~$2M

Core ~ $1.8M

Emerging Opportunities: Helmholtz-Alberta Initiative Fraunhofer collaboration with University of Alberta Ongoing business development and partnership opportunities BCN Retreat

BCN3.0? BCN Institute? Increased Funding? New Stakeholders? CCEMC, AIEES, AITF, etc… New Research Themes? Socioeconomic Arm? New Collaborations?

NOTES:

-Keywords in individual bubbles on slides 10-12 don't necessarily correspond to 1 single project. For instance, Stryker works on both lignin chemistry and terpenes but he only carries 1 project

-Although assigned to specific themes here for simplicity, keywords/projects often touch on multiple themes. For instance, CNC is listed in byproducts utilization, but in reality could be put in either of the other 2 themes

-I left out Jonathan Curtis' partner CyLab...the company had trouble bringing its hemp processing equipment out of China, so probably best to avoid bringing this up altogether