>> J. MONNIER: The aviation industry has set very, very stringent targets
for their greenhouse gas emissions.
Canadian airlines will need about 900 million litres
of sustainable aviation fuels in 2035.
And right now, Canada is not producing a drop of
bio-jet or sustainable aviation fuel.
>> D. HASLIP: The Sky's the Limit challenge is important because the problem
of sustainable aviation fuel is so important.
CanmetENERGY-Ottawa's mission is to lead the development
of energy S&T [science and technology] solutions for the
environmental and economic benefit of Canadians.
The international airline industry emits a lot of greenhouse gases.
And while there are lots of things the aviation industry can do
in terms of finding efficiencies in flight scheduling
and using more fuel efficient planes,
there is a fundamental problem that can only be
addressed with sustainable aviation fuels.
>> J. MONNIER: Sustainable aviation fuels have a lower carbon intensity
than commercial, petroleum-derived jet fuels,
and they are fully miscible with commercial [petroleum-derived] jet fuel.
>> J. CHEN: The production of SAF [sustainable aviation fuel] and other biofuels
utilizes a variety of renewable feedstocks that can
produce jobs and GDP for Canada's economy.
>> C. SIEWE: Our mandate here is to work in collaboration with industry
to develop unconventional oil and gas,
in both an environmentally sustainable manner
and to also remain cost-competitive at the same time.
CanmetENERGY-Devon has some unique capabilities
in the area of sustainable aviation fuels development.
>> J. CHEN: I'm leading a research team on co-processing biocrude or bio-oil
with petroleum in existing refineries
to produce low-carbon transportation fuels;
including gasoline, diesel and jet fuels.
>> C. SIEWE: The other thing that we have is the equipment to run experiments.
We have almost every significant process unit
that you would find in a refinery.
So we are able to test how the materials are likely to behave
under actual process conditions in commercial production
of the sustainable aviation fuels.
>> D. HASLIP: Across all of our research and development programs,
CanmetENERGY-Ottawa has two strengths.
The first is our facilities.
We have a diverse set of bench-scale and pilot-scale facilities
that allow us to develop and test new energy, science and technology
solutions across a wide variety of energy S&T problems.
The second is our team.
So we have people who understand the biomass feedstocks.
We have people who understand how to turn those biomass
feedstocks into intermediate products like bio-oils.
We have people that know how to turn those bio-oils
into sustainable aviation fuels.
And we have a strong analytical chemistry team that allows
us to measure and characterize the bio-feedstocks
and the biofuels all along that chain,
providing tight feedback loops that allow us to continually improve.
>> J. CHEN: We not only develop our own technologies,
we also help research organizations and private companies
to test their technologies.
All the four finalists in the Sky's the Limit challenge
have approached our lab.
Currently, we are working with one of them
to conduct lab tests and pilot plant tests.
>> J. MONNIER: Finalists in the challenge have to produce about 10 litres
of sustainable aviation fuel.
What we do at CanmetENERGY-Ottawa is,
using the proprietary feedstock that our partners have developed,
we are converting it into a bio-jet fuel.
So the typical non-edible feedstock that we use
would be agricultural waste or forest residues.
These feedstocks will be liquefied and we would be
converting the bio-oil or bio-crude into a bio-kerosene.
So once we have hydrocarbons, if we distill the hydrocarbon products,
we obtain the jet fuel fraction.
And we look at the specifications, which tell us
how close we are from commercial bio-jet from petroleum.
>> D. HASLIP: When a private sector company comes to us and says,
we want to work with you, that's a very clear indication
that we are doing the right research, and we're doing it extremely well.
>> C. SIEWE: We publish excellent research in this space,
and they understand it's worth their while to partner with us
and to spend time with us working on addressing these issues.