NEW AND EMERGING BIOREFINERY TECHNOLOGIES AND PRODUCTS FOR THE CANADIAN FOREST INDUSTRY

It is widely recognized that the global economy and ecology can no longer be sustained by non-renewable carbon resources. Biomass represents an abundant and renewable resource with great potential for the production of biochemicals, biomaterials, and bioenergy. The main objective of this paper is to provide an overview of biorefinery technologies and products that are currently being considered, demonstrated, or implemented in the Canadian forest industry. These include hemicellulose extraction from wood chips before pulping, lignin recovery from black liquor, methanol recovery from evaporator or digester condensates, biogas production from waste streams or sludges using anaerobic digestion, syngas generation from biomass using gasification, and bio-oil production from biomass using pyrolysis. Based on available data, these technologies will be reviewed with respect to technical feasibility, process integration, product options, and economics. MICHAEL PALEOLOGOU*, THEODORE RADIOTIS, LAMFEDDAL KOUISNI, NACEUR JEMAA, TALAT MAHMOOD, TOM BROWNE, DOUGLAS SINGBEIL NEW AND EMERGING BIOREFINERY TECHNOLOGIES AND PRODUCTS FOR THE CANADIAN FOREST INDUSTRY