Sustainable Development Technology Canada Announces a Fourth Round of Funding $32.4 million for Clean Technology Projects

Ottawa, June 3, 2004 – The Board of Directors of Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC) is pleased to announce approval in principle of funding for 11 new clean technology projects  — an investment totaling $32.4 million.

These 11 projects are currently leveraged by an additional $95.6 million of investment from other private and public sources.

“This represents a 3:1 ratio of industry-partner contribution to SDTC investment, demonstration of industry’s sustained commitment to supporting clean technology projects,” said Dr. Vicky J. Sharpe, President and CEO of SDTC.

“The Board continues to be impressed with the quality and scope of applications submitted for funding consideration,” said SDTC Chairman of the Board, James M. Stanford. “In this latest round, we had submissions from across the country. These new projects engage most of Canada’s primary economic sectors, which are significant producers of greenhouse gas emissions. This funding round has exposed us to new technologies through the increasing and innovative focus by Canadian industry on the issue of greenhouse gas emissions.”

All funded projects must go through a stringent due diligence process that includes site visits to each applicant location. In this way SDTC gains a clear understanding of the consortium’s value proposition and performance expectations.  However, SDTC’s interaction with applicants is more comprehensive than the evaluation process.

“Our support isn’t just about funding”, said Dr. Sharpe. “We help applicants to connect with partners along their particular technology’s supply chain, clarify their business case, identify project opportunities and prepare for commercialization. Clean technology development is a growth area in the global marketplace and Canada has the opportunity to become a leader. By building our entrepreneurial capacity, we can create a truly sustainable development infrastructure and realize tangible health benefits for Canadians.”

Since April 2002, SDTC has completed four funding rounds, committed $72 million in 38 clean technology projects, and leveraged $206 million from project consortia members. SDTC currently manages $278 million in projects.

SDTC will launch its sixth funding round in late July 2004 and will make its fifth round of funding announcements in early October 2004.

SDTC

Sustainable Development Technology Canada finances and supports the development of clean technologies — solutions that address issues of climate change, air quality, soil remediation and water quality to deliver environmental, economic and health benefits to Canadians. An arm’s length, not-for-profit corporation created by the Government of Canada, SDTC fills the void in the innovation chain between R&D and commercialization — helping clean technology developers move their products and solutions through the development and demonstration phases, in preparation for commercialization.

For more information, please contact:

Andrée Mongeon
Director of Communications
Sustainable Development Technology Canada
Tel: (613) 234-6313 x 224
a.mongeon@sdtc.ca
www.sdtc.ca

Summaries of the 11 funded projects follow.

1. Lead Organization: BIOX Corporation, Oakville, ON

Consortium Members: University of Toronto, Dynex Capital Limited Partnership, Weatons Holdings Limited/Notae Limited,Vopak Terminals Canada Inc. (Canadian Subsidiary of Royal Vopak) and AMEC. 

Economic Category: Energy Production

Project Description: This project will involve the development and demonstration of a technology to convert any seed oil, recycled cooking oils, and animal tallows and fats into biodiesel at atmospheric pressure and near-ambient temperatures. It can also convert oils and fats to biodiesel faster than competing processes. BIOX believes these advantages will result in considerably lower production costs, making biodiesel competitive with petroleum diesel.

2. Lead Organization: DeCloet Greenhouse, Simcoe, ON

Consortium Members: Enbridge Gas Distribution Inc., Union Gas, CEA Technologies, Quist Engineering & Consult., Greenhouse Engineering, Industrial Research Assistance Program (National Research Council) and the Agricultural and Adaptation Council (CanAdapt program).

Economic Category: Energy Utilization

Project Description: This project will involve the development and demonstration of an integrated suite of greenhouse technologies.  New greenhouse structural designs will include removable foam insulation, heat recovery and storage systems, micro-turbine cogeneration, new energy management process controls, infra-red thermal film, energy curtains, and supplemental lighting system technologies. According to the project proponents, these combined technologies can increase greenhouse energy efficiency by 50 to 75 percent, with corresponding reductions in operating costs and greenhouse gas emissions.

3. Lead Organization: Fifth LightTechnology Limited,Mississauga, ON

Consortium Members: Great West Life Realty, Lindsay Electronics, Toronto Hydro and New Orbit Technologies Inc.

Economic Category: Energy Utilization

Project Description: This project will involve the development and demonstration of a microprocessor-based dimmer for magnetic ballasts in fluorescent lights. This enables fixture-level dimming control and could lead to significant energy savings. Fifth Light claims that its dimmer makes magnetic ballasts operate more efficiently even when they are not dimmed, and actually improves their performance with respect to flicker, noise, heat, and life expectancy. Fifth Light dimmers reduce electricity in direct proportion to the amount of dimming. This technology offers a substantial advantage over electronic ballasts.

4. Lead Organization:  Gamma Engineering, Whitby ON

Consortium Members: Tecnored/Startec, Sault Ste. Marie Economic Development Corporation, Sault Ste. Marie PUC and The Corporation of the City of Sault Ste. Marie.

Economic Category: Energy Utilization

Project Description: This project will involve the development and demonstration of a smelting plant to produce marketable pig iron (raw iron) from steel mill waste. This will be done with a novel process that can replace blast furnaces. This process uses coal instead of coke, resulting in much less energy use and greenhouse gas emissions. In addition to pig iron, the process also produces combustible off-gas and a calcium/silica slag which is an ingredient in cement. The latter two bi-products offer considerable market and emissions benefits.

5. Lead Organization: Gen-X Power Corp. of Alberta, Calgary, AB

Consortium Members: KATZEN International, Inc., University of Calgary, Virtual Materials Group Inc. and Natural Resources Canada.

Economic Category: Energy Production/Energy Utilization

Project Description: This project will involve the development and demonstration of a membrane technology which is believed to reduce the overall cost of ethanol production in any ethanol plant by 3.5 cents per litre. In current ethanol production, a grain-based feed is fermented, separated and distilled. Conventional approaches are unreliable and inefficient because they use molecular sieve beds or plate and frame membranes. The Gen-X process is much less energy intensive and has higher reliability.

6. Lead Organization: Gradek Energy,Montreal QC

Consortium Members: Syncrude Canada, SNC-Lavalin and University of Alberta.

Economic Category: Energy Production/Waste Management

Project Description: This project will involve the development and demonstration of a process for separating bitumen (raw oil) from oilsands and from tailings streams and ponds. The process is based on re-usable organic polymer beads to which hydrocarbons adsorb. Current oilsands processes leave vast, environmentally hostile tailings streams and ponds which is estimated by project proponents to leave millions of barrels of unrecovered bitumen.

7. Lead Organization: Lignol Innovations Corporation, Vancouver, B.C

Consortium Members: Faculty of Forestry at UBC, Forintek Canada, Hipp Engineering Ltd., two major integrated forest product companies and one major energy company.

Economic Category: Energy Production

Project Description: This project will involve the development and demonstration of a cellulose-biomass biorefinery process that claims to effectively and economically convert forest industry wastes into ethanol and other marketable products – leaving virtually no leftover waste. This is done in two general stages. First, lignin and several other wood components are chemically separated and extracted from the waste material with a proprietary Organosolv process. The second stage involves breaking down the remaining insoluble cellulose to sugars, which are then converted to fuel grade ethanol, using an enzymatic and fermentation process. The conversion of this treated form of cellulose to ethanol is much more efficient than other methods.

8. Lead Organization: Nanox, Quebec, QC

Consortium Members: Laval University, Pangaea Ventures, Business Development Bank of Canada, The Solidarity Fund QFL, Hydro-Quebec Capitech Inc. and Sovar s.e.c.

Economic Category: Transportation

Project Description: This project will involve the development and demonstration of a low-temperature catalyst powder that claims to significantly reduce the quantity of platinum group metals (PGMs) in as the coating on catalytic converters for the automotive industry. This new catalyst is capable of converting carbon monoxide and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and methane, from engine exhaust, into water and carbon dioxide at lower temperatures than PGMs (which only catalyze pollutants when the converter is hot). In conventional PGM catalytic converters, there is a significant period between cold start-up and optimum temperature when little or no catalysis is taking place. During this period, the pollutants may be exhausted directly into the atmosphere. 

9.   Lead Organization: NxtPhase Corp.,Vancouver BC

Consortium Members: Hydro Quebec, BC Transmission Corporation, Powertech Labs and the University of British Columbia.

Economic Category: Power Generation

Project Description: This project will involve the development and demonstration of optical current and voltage sensors to control and monitor large-scale electricity electric power grids. It is expected that devices of this type will replace the instrument transformers and circuit breakers currently in use. Existing instrument transformers and circuit breakers are insulated either with toxic oils or sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) gas, the latter of which is an extremely potent greenhouse gas. The optical sensors represent a safe and environmentally friendly solution, with superior performance resulting in enhanced reliability of the grid (reducing the probability of events such as the August 14 blackout).

10. Lead Organization: Sacre-Davey Engineering, North Vancouver, B.C.

Consortium Members: ERCO Worldwide, (a division of Superior Plus Inc), QuestAir Technologies Inc., Dynetek Industries Ltd., Powertech Labs Inc., Westport Innovations Inc. and Clean Energy.

Economic Category: Energy Production

Project Description: This project will involve the development and demonstration of a hydrogen fuel refining, storage, distribution and infrastructure program. It will showcase fuel cells in power generation, heavy and light-duty hydrogen burning vehicles, and vehicle refueling technologies. The program is based on recovery and utilization waste hydrogen from an electro-chemical plant to advance the hydrogen economy.

11. Lead Organization: Synodon Inc., Edmonton, AB 

Consortium Members: TransCanada PipeLines Limited, Mosaic Mapping Systems Inc. and Airborne Energy Solutions Ltd.

Economic Category: Enabling Technology

Project Description: This project will involve the development and demonstration of a mobile (helicopter-based) remote natural gas sensor capable of detecting leaks in pipelines. This detector, called realSens™, is based on remote sensing methods and instrumentation developed at the University of Toronto. Certain components upon which realSens™ is based are currently in use on NASA’s Terra satellite. This new technology will enable pipeline operators to increase their efficiency in pipeline leak repair.