Ontario will be soon be hosting an algal biorefinery demonstration project. A collaboration between NRC’s Algal Carbon Conversion (ACC) program, Pond Technologies and St Marys Cement, the project will involve a 25,000 L photobioreactor within a pilot scale algal biorefinery. The system is designed to rapidly recycle carbon dioxide and other airborne industrial emissions into biomass and other bioproducts through photosynthesis.
Pond Technologies will be supplying the photobioreactor, equipment and personnel; NRC will be contributing its expertise in algae (including cultivation, bioprocessing and selected algae strains); and the project will be taking place at a St Marys Cement plant in Ontario.
These efforts reflect a bigger push in Canada towards clean energy research, development and adoption. In 2015, the Canadian government committed to doubling funding for clean energy R&D by 2020.
For more details about the project and the Canadian government’s efforts in the space, check out the announcement.