Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Dear committee members, you have invited me today to speak to Bill C-33. As a young researcher, I believe I represent the new generation of scientists and professionals, particularly those working in the vast areas of the environment and biotechnology.
First, I noted that under Bill C-33, there will be new regulations on biofuel production; these regulations have not yet been drafted or passed. If the bill encourages the Canadian production of biofuels from green biomass rather than from other sources, there might be serious environmental and socio-economic repercussions, the possibility of which have already been raised by the scientific community, or played down by certain governments, but which strike fear in the heart of environmentalists. Here then are my positions with regard to your bill.
First, the production of biofuels calls for the use of tons of biomass, and one can easily justify using abundant and diversified raw materials such as waste materials. Bill C-33 should be presented to Canadians as encouraging the use of waste materials, and not of green biomass.
Second, the production of biofuels must not supersede the production of other bioproducts. Bill C-33 is currently being presented as supporting the production of biofuel, but what about other bioproducts for which there are potential and growing markets? Does the future of producers only lie with biofuels, or with a greater diversification of agricultural bioproducts?
Third, Bill C-33 is being presented to Canadians as a solution for agricultural producers looking for new markets. However, in my view, the bill is also a solution for the diversification of bioproducts for other industries, and even for municipalities, which have at their disposal a vast variety of waste materials which can be bioprocessed with or without being treated first.
As for my first position, many of us strongly believe that the production of biofuels and other bioproducts must be based, whenever possible, on waste, pretreated or non pretreated biomass which is available locally. Each region, municipality, town or village generates its own diversified waste, such as straw, wood residue, used oils, subproducts or agrifood waste waters. All these waste materials could be potentially biotransformed into biofuels and other bioproducts, including even enzyme cocktails, for instance, which can be used to pretreat lignocellulosic materials to biotransform them.
By making the right technological choices, you can considerably reduce your production costs and the price of bioproducts. You can even save on the treatment and management of waste by using it in value added production. The combination of waste and/or local residues, and the application of mechanical, physical-chemical or enzymatic pretreatments are two great examples of technological choices which widen the scope of possibilities for bioprocessing and increase production performance.
It is even possible to use the scrubbing sludge of waste water. Waste water treatment plans generate a fantastic raw material which the public and some governments still perceive as waste because of its origin and smell. The nutritional potential of sludge is under estimated, but it can support the growth of industrial microorganisms, and the formation of these microbioproducts has potential commercial applications. Scientific research has also shown that it is cost effective to produce biopesticides and enzymes, and eventually bioplastics. The production of biofuels, or of enzymes for the production of biofuels, certainly holds a lot of potential.
As for my second position, I believe that the Canadian government wants Bill C-33 to help agricultural producers. Indeed, the bill in part addresses the need to diversify agricultural bioproducts in Canada. But it is important that future regulations, and any investment made under Bill C-33, not draw our attention away from the production of other bioproducts, such as microbial enzymes and biochemical products for which there are potentials and promising markets. There are so many niches which can be developed, especially giving the diversity of fermentable residues which can be transformed into economic raw materials.
As for my third position, Bill C-33 is presented as a solution to agricultural producers looking for new markets. However, Bill C-33 should also be presented as a solution for every producer of waste wanting to transform it into bioproducts and to benefit from this process. Future regulations and investments made under Bill C-33 will also have to apply to the forest industry, the agrifood industry, and even to municipalities. In my opinion, it is important to encourage the production of first, second or third generation biofuels which are made entirely from agricultural, forest or municipal residues, or even based on materials which are not grown from the soil.
I would like to underscore the fact that Bill C-33 reflects the government's willingness to create biorefineries, and that plants to produce biofuels, bioenergy and other biochemical products would be located in a rural environment. However, I think that we should go further than to simply build biorefineries; we should also build eco-refineries, which would be located in different regions and which would meet the particular needs in biofuels and other bioproducts of that region, based on the availability of waste materials.
Eco-refineries are in fact the logical extension of biorefineries and eco-parks. We will be able to build eco-refineries if we decide to diversify the production of waste-generated bioproducts. Farmers, beef, pork and chicken producers, various industries, recycling centres, municipal dumps and water treatment stations could foster bioproduction in their respective regions. Manufactured bioproducts, such as biofuels, should ideally meet the needs of citizens, farmers, and whatever industries are located in the region. Each town or village could manufacture and distribute to its citizens and to local industries a variety of cheap ecological bioproducts. These eco-refineries would be comprised of various “value added” subsidiaries, which would attract biotech companies to their respective areas and create high-tech jobs.
If you wish, I can provide you with the scientific literature to support what I am saying. I have a few concrete examples. In Quebec, the town of Victoriaville is currently doing a feasibility study on the implementation of a pretreatment and bioprocessing process of sludge into commercial bioproducts. You can also take a look at what my company, EcoNovo, is doing. Its mission is to turn waste into value-added production, and, in particular, to diversify the products we produce. In fact, my company did the feasibility study for the town of Victoriaville.
Lastly, there is the Institut national de la recherche scientifique, which is based in Quebec City, and which has received a grant from the Canadian Foundation for Innovation and the Government of Quebec to build the very first research and development laboratory in the area of bioconversion of urban, industrial and agricultural waste into value-added products. This is a research platform which will provide Canadian researchers and business startups state-of-the-art equipment to pre-commercialize bioconversion technologies.
In conclusion, I believe that Bill C-33 will promote the production of biofuels generated from waste and the enzyme cocktails which are necessary for the pretreatment process, while also maintaining the main objective, which is to diversify the bioproducts generated by all industries—recycling centres, municipal dumps and waste water treatment plants—across Canada. We have access to a vast variety of waste, the advantages of which are still being counted. That is why we must build bio-refineries and eco-refineries in Canada to add value to waste materials.