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Innovation Oxford Airs on RogersTV Sept 2011
Program 9 Miscanthus and Canadian BioFuel Video Part 1
Program 9 Miscanthus and Canadian BioFuel Video Part 2
Program 9 – Growing fuel and turning on the sun!
On this edition of Innovation we learn about a very new fuel feed stock that is being grown here. You may not have heard of it before but Miscanthus grass is a crop with a lot of potential. John Malacki is growing Miscanthus on his farm near Drumbo in anticipation of it’s use as a fuel for producing electricity.
From Drumbo we travel to Springford where Ian Moncrieff has set up a processing facility for Miscanthus and other materials into pellets and “pucks”.
Canadian Biofuel Press Release – September 17 2011
Martin Luther King stated that “I have a dream” and so began a six year journey.
Canadian biofuel began as an idea of Ian Moncrieff to provide a densified fuel to provide industrial and residential heating requirements with an alternative to oil and gas, an alternative that is not only friendly to the environment but is competitive in cost.
Being in the environmental and waste remediation consulting business, Ian watched as useable products from the industrial waste stream such as pallets and packaging crates as well as building waste ended up in landfill, products that could be removed from the waste stream and put to good use. It took little research to realize that there was also an opportunity for agriculture to produce materials that could also be used for densified fuel.
The densified fuel is made up of various components such a building and industrial wood waste and of course purpose grown crops such as miscanthus grass that can be grown on sandy soils as well as marginal land that can provide an income that rivals corn and soybeans. Even crop residue such as corn stalks and bean straw can be processed into heating fuel.
As we come to the conclusion of six years of research and development, working with numerous private and government agencies a workable model had been formulated. The next step in this process was to purchase a piece of property that would fit all the criteria to make this model work, we needed a central location to our customers and purpose grown crops, good accessibility as well as services such as ample gas and hydro, and of course a qualified work force. A deal was struck with Cargill to purchase the Springford grain elevator and revamp it into a biofuel densification facility. Along with private investment funding from Agriculture Canada’s Sand Plains Community Development Fund and RBC completed the budget requirements and construction began in May. Nearing completion fuel production will begin in early October.
Ian Moncrieff
President and CEO
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