Unit 6 - Forest Research: Emerging Applications


Lesson 2: Bio-pathways Project Results

 

The Bio-pathways Project was carried out in two phases.

In the first phase of the study, the Forest Products Association of Canada investigated whether the bio products business was a good fit for Canada's forest industry - economically, socially and environmentally.

For example, would the production of new bio products from Canada's trees boost employment and strengthen Canada's economy and rural communities? What effect would the production of these bio products have on our environment?

To answer these questions researchers undertook case studies of the country's three main forestry regions: British Columbia, Ontario, and Québec. Investigators examined 16 traditional and 11 emerging bioindustries and compared the results of their analyses.

In the second phase of the study, researchers assessed the global demand for new emerging bio products. Researchers also examined how Canada might best secure its share of this exploding market.

It's clear that the Bio-pathways Project was the start of an exciting future for Canada's forest industry, one that give Canada an advantage going forward.  This project makes the case for an integration of current operations with new processes to create bio-energy, bio-chemicals and bio-materials.

You can read the Bio-pathways Project report here.

 

 

 

The Findings of the Bio-pathways Project

The Bio-pathways Project has defined an exciting future for Canada's forest sector. Given our abundant forest resource, our access to emerging technologies, and our global leadership in sustainable forestry, Canada is ideally poised to become a key player in the new bioeconomy.

Here are three key findings of the study:

  • Numerous viable options already exist to convert wood fibre into bioenergy, biochemicals, and biomaterials. In other words, we have the technology.

  • Canada's traditional forest products (example, lumber and wood pulp) will continue to be important going forward. Producing forest bio products at existing lumber and pulp/paper mills is the best option for Canada. This strategy will allow the industry to extract maximum value from each tree, which will improve returns, increase employment levels, and enhance environmental performance.

  • There is a huge global demand for bio products which have the potential to replace products that are currently being manufactured from depleting fossil fuels. These new markets will reach an estimated 200 billion dollars by 2015.

Assessing the environmental impact of various bio technologies and bio products continues to be an active area of research.