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The nereocystis canopy production dataset is a component of Hakai Institute’s Nearshore research and monitoring program. This dataset documents seasonal changes in Nereocystis luetkeana density, size structure and growth parameters at multiple locations near Calvert Island on the Central Coast of British Columbia (BC) since 2016. Each year, sites were visited 1 - 5 times over the summer months (April-September) and 0 - 2 times over the winter months. Fifteen plants were tagged at each site to measure individual stipe growth, blade elongation, blade erosion, change in number of blades and plant survival. Additional plants (up to 45 per site) were measured for stipe and blade size structure distributions. Three permanent transect lines were used to track change in plant density and relocate the tagged plants. Blade growth rate ranged from 0 to 15 cm per day through the summer months and stipe growth ranged from 0 to 12 cm a day, depending on site and time of year. Based on these data we can determine which field parameters best correlate with overall kelp productivity and biomass, to refine metrics for long-term assessments of Nereocystis luetkeana status in BC and ultimately find what environment factors are driving these local temporal and spatial trends. This data package is freely available to everyone, following the principles of equitable access and benefit sharing. However, we expect all data users to give attribution to the data providers (read our data license) and the use of these data should happen in the light of fair use, i.e.: 1) respect the data providers, and provide helpful feedback on data quality, and 2) communicate and/or collaborate with the providers if you are considering using this dataset for manuscripts or other forms of reporting.

The transition towards renewable energy sources is considered one of the main mitigation measures combating the effects of climate change. The use of renewable energy, particularly those derived from forest biomass, is gaining traction in Canada and the international scene. Nordic countries are seen as leaders in this field and has therefore developed policy programs supporting the use of forest-based biomass energy. This review focuses on four factors influencing the policy development process: (1) Forest governance, (2) Land ownership, (3) Stance on natural gas, and (4) the jurisdiction’s policies supporting the use of forest-based energy. The result of this review shows that policy schemes must be coherent at all levels of the government. In addition, all major industries strongly support policy programs, particularly those incentivizing the transition towards renewable alternatives. Lastly, quantifiable goals must be developed to provide a measure on the effectiveness of such schemes.

Biomass pyrolysis has the potential to become a major component of future biorefineries, since biomass is cracked to produce gases, liquid products (bio-oil) and solid products (bio-char). In order for the process to be economically feasible, it is necessary to obtain the maximum value from each stream, thus no by-product can be regarded as a waste. Bio-char is normally regarded as a by-product of fast pyrolysis, which is optimized to target bio-oil production. However, there are many potentially attractive applications for it: for example, it can be used for the production of activated carbons, which are the most commonly used adsorbent materials. In this study, a new reactor technology developed at ICFAR, the Jiggled Bed Reactor (JBR) is employed as a fast and reliable tool for the optimization of the production of activated carbons from biomass. Due to its excellent heating system, both slow and fast pyrolysis conditions can be achieved, and activation can be carried out. The results obtained in the JBR show good comparison with larger scale reactors, thus allowing the screening of new pyrolysis and activation conditions as well as different feedstocks in a fast and reliable way. The impact of the type of feedstock, activation and pyrolysis conditions (fast/slow) on the final product characteristic and activation kinetics are studied. Finally, the performance of activated carbons produced in the JBR as adsorbents is evaluated for different environmental applications, such as the removal of ammonia and mercury from wastewater and of naphthenic acids from Oil Sands Process-affected water (OSPW). In particular, activated carbon produced from Kraft lignin is shown to outperform commercial activated carbon for wastewater treatment applications.

The recovery of oil spilled on land or water has become an important issue due to environmental regulations. Canadian biomasses as fibrous material are naturally renewable and have potential to absorb oil-spill at different ranges. In this work, four Canadian biomasses (wheat, oat, barley and flax straws) were examined in order to evaluate their oil affinities and study parameters such as average particle size, moisture content, surface coating and reusability that could affect their oil affinities when used as sorbent. Moreover, one oil sorption model was adopted and then coupled with another developed model to approximate and verify the experimental findings of the biomass oil sorbent. The oil absorbency values of different biomass were analyzed and compared to each other. The effect of particle size on oil sorption capacity was also discussed. In addition, two flame retardant coatings were studied using a thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). At the average particle size of 150-1000 µm, results showed that barley straw biomass had the highest absorbency value of 6.07 g/g, while flax straw had the lowest value of 3.69 g/g. Wheat and oat straws had oil absorbency values of 5.49 g/g and 5.00 g/g, respectively. The average particle size of 425-600 µm indicated better absorbency value for oat and wheat straws, while the added 11 wt% of moisture to dry oat straw decreased the oil sorption capacity up to 7.32%. The use of flame retardant coatings on oat straw biomass decreased the oil sorption capacity by 11.81% and 24.21% at 35 wt% of coating for flame retardant 1 and flame retardant 2 respectively. Furthermore the thermal stability study revealed major weight recovery for both flame retardant coatings at hemicellulose and lignocellulose degradation temperatures. It was also found that oat straw biomass could be regenerated and used for many sorption/desorption cycles as the reusability experiment showed 18.45% reduction in oil absorbency value after six consecutive cycles. The developed model, Penetration Absorbency (P.A.), showed that oat straw adsorbed oil at inter-particle level, while the results of Sorption Capacity (S.C.) model coupled with Penetration Absorbency (P.A.) model excellently predicted the oil absorptivity of raw and coated oat straw.

Edition: Draft

Current methods of ranking and selecting biomass fuels are based on short lists of factors. The objective of this thesis is to develop and demonstrate a fuel ranking tool. Existing fuel decision methods and bioenergy technology are reviewed. A fuel ranking tool is then developed and demonstrated. Finally, a procedure for evaluating the thermal efficiency of a pellet stove bioenergy system is developed and implemented. The tool is designed to be applied by an engineer working in cooperation with the actual fuel user. The user identifies a list of all available fuels which are compatible with their specific energy system. The ranking tool is suitable for users of any sized bioenergy system used for space heating, processing heating, or electricity generation. Through effective communication the engineer lists the user’s performance requirements. Requirements considered in this thesis are economic cost of fuels, required storage space, combustion equipment cleaning, and air pollutants emitted during biofuel combustion. Performance indicators corresponding to the user’s requirements are then selected or developed by the engineer. Data is then collected by the engineer to be used for the evaluation of these indicators. The indicators are then combined using weighting factors by the engineer to assign a single numerical score to each fuel. These scores allow the fuels to quickly and easily be ranked by the user according to how well they satisfy the user’s requirements. The ranking tool is demonstrated by applying it to a situation of a pellet stove user with 3 available fuel types. The three fuels are ranked in terms of their ability to satisfy the user’s requirements with respect to economic cost, storage space, equipment cleaning, certain air pollutant emissions, and supporting the local economy. A pellet stove thermal efficiency evaluation method is used to determine the percentage of fuel heating value delivered as space heat to the room housing the stove. Natural and forced convection as well as radiation heat ...

Thesis ; Thesis (M.Sc.), University of Toronto, 1993

Drought has emerged as a key concern in the context of climate variability induced by Climate Change processes and over a billion people are vulnerable, according to UN estimates. Drought preparedness is recognized as the preferred way to cope over relief, and information is the key. Improved access to contemporary ICT in the form of mobile phones and the Internet can help address the challenge of information deficiency in this matter. We have tried to develop an integrated approach for improving the capacity of rural communities by bringing together agricultural information with methods of ODL and effective exchange or delivery using videoconferencing. This has also enabled skill building among vulnerable rural communities in the use of color-coded maps derived from satellite imagery and GIS platforms. ICRISAT in partnership with a community based all- women micro-credit organization, the Adarsha Mahila Samaikhya (AMS), in South Central India has developed this blend of techniques to help the AMS and rural communities to anticipate how vulnerable their villages would be to drought in a season. This is an ongoing partnership, and we report here on joint studies carried out during March 2008-September 2009.