USask researchers working with Tidewater Renewables on RNG from crop, forestry residues

In Canada, University of Saskatchewan researcher Dr. Ajay Dalai is working with Calgary-based industry, Tidewater Renewables, to develop a novel integrated process to produce renewable natural gas from the biomass. Dalai is developing a novel integrated process that uses both biochemical (anerobic digestion) and thermochemical (gasification) methods to produce RNG.

With Saskatchewan’s north home to a boreal forest that’s larger than Germany, and its south making up nearly half of Canada’s cropland, the province’s agriculture and lumber industries alone annually produce about 24 million tonnes of biomass residue.

The goal is to help decarbonize the heating and power production sectors by replacing non-renewable natural gas with biomethane and help Canada’s transition to a low-carbon economy, said Dalai, a distinguished professor in USask’s College of Engineering and Canada Research Chair of Bioenergy and Environmentally Friendly Chemical Processing.

Tidewater is providing $150,000 annually for three years for the project. Dalai is also applying for an Alliance grant from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, which would provide $300,000 annually for the project if he is awarded funding. At least six highly qualified personnel will be trained as part of the project.

His team aims to conduct a comparative study of the different biomethane production processes and the most cost-effective and environmentally benign method will enable Tidewater experts to scale up the best option to an industrial scale.