Integration of Agricultural and Municipal Solid Waste in bio-Hubs in Canada
How can Canada’s local biogenic (waste-based) resources contribute to transitioning to a low-carbon economy, combating global warming and simultaneously to building a sustainable economic framework that promotes innovation, job creation and welfare? The use of bioenergy emerges as a promising solution, and Canada can build on three main types of biogenic resources: forestry products and residues, agricultural biomass and municipal solid waste (from residential, institutional, commercial and constructions and demolition sectors).
A study for Task 43 (Biomass Supply in a Nature Positive Circular Economy) developed a framework for assessing the availability of all of these biomass resources in various regions of Canada and evaluated the economic feasibility of producing biofuels and bioproducts through biohubs.
Biohubs are essential in establishing a value-added supply chain, enhancing biomass accessibility and supporting emerging bio-based industries. They facilitate biomass storage, sorting, processing, and transportation to various sectors, contributing to a robust bioeconomy. Their flexible configurations allow for a wide range of operations, from primary storage and reloading to advanced processing and conversion into bio-based intermediates. This versatility makes biohubs critical components in Canada’s transition to a renewable energy future, ensuring efficient use of biomass resources while fostering sustainable industry growth. Furthermore, biohubs can adapt to different scales and operational needs, addressing various industrial requirements from simple biomass storage to advanced bioproduct manufacturing. Ultimately, they represent crucial infrastructure that could link forest biomass, the organic portion of MSW, and agricultural biomass to the broader bioeconomy, facilitating Canada’s shift toward biomass-based energy and products. Biohubs can catalyse Canada’s bioeconomy’s growth while reducing the nation’s carbon footprint by integrating bioenergy production with sustainable resource management.
More specifically, in the report the existing tool CANBIO-HUB was developed to conduct techno-economic assessments (TEAs) of biohubs in Canada to review amounts and types of available biomass resources in Canada and develop biohub cost estimates for three regions in Canada. The new tool can now also be used for similar assessment in other countries.
