WHAT ARE BIOENERGY AND BIOPRODUCTS?
Bioenergy, simplified, is energy made available by the conversion of materials derived from sources of either living organisms or their metabolic by-products. Biomass can be converted into solid, liquid or gaseous energy sources, which allows a wide range of applications. It can be: • burned directly to produce heat and/or electricity, • converted biochemically to produce liquid fuel; • digested or gasified to produce gaseous fuel; and finally, • pyrolized to produce oils and high value chemicals. Canada has an abundant supply of many types of biomass, which is important in the production of energy, biofuels, materials and chemicals. Bioproducts can be defined as the resulting product from running sources of biomass through a series of bioprocesses that convert them into bio-materials, chemicals or fuels. Some examples of bioproducts in Canada are: • bio-diesel; • ethanol; • industrial plant-based oil products (such as fertilizers, plastics); • plant-made industrial products (such as c
