Cameron Young is not one for pie in the sky. As one of 18 graduating students (and 54 full-time students) this November in the University of Calgary's Master of Science in Sustainable Energy Development (SEDV), Young took a down-to-earth approach literally to his capstone project on biofuels derived from waste products.
"The new generation of advanced biofuels takes waste products and converts that into usable fuels," says Young, who has a chemical engineering degree from McMaster University and will receive his master's degree from the SEDV program in November.
"These waste products are forestry wastes out in the field that would otherwise be burned for management or fire prevention reasons, mill wastes or a combination thereof." He says other usable material includes sewage sludge from wastewater treatment plants, waste from urban green bins, and agricultural waste.
Plenty of opportunity for biofuels produced from waste
The science of biofuels is no longer about corn and barley. Growing crops for fuel is passé. "When George W. Bush was president, there was a lot of focus on corn converted to ethanol and biodiesel," Young explains. "The energy return and environmental returns were dubious. In terms of saving greenhouse gases, you could at best break even."
Biofuels derived from waste don't carry the carbon footprint involved with using farmland to grow fresh produce for fuel instead of for food. And thanks to the potential offered by co-processing, Alberta is in an ideal position to be a leader in making waste-derived biofuels a reality for use in transportation. The prospect is so intriguing that Young says WestJet has already begun investigating how biofuels can be used to reduce airplane emissions.
Co-processing using existing refinery infrastructure in Alberta to produce biofuels from waste could help lower production costs and eliminate the need for expensive new infrastructure. "In a world where people want fuel to have a lower emissions impact, biofuel could be a supplement, because we use the same infrastructure," says Young. "If you're getting biofuel from municipal solid waste, it's cheaper to produce it in Alberta."
