Meal to BioOil Project Overview

BioStreet has begun pursuing a new technology to provide extra value, not only to the Vegreville Energy project, but also the global oilseed crushing industry. The Meal to BioOil project includes the testing of camelina and canola meal for potential use in fast pyrolysis technologies, to create a secondary high value energy product and biochar. BioStreet has been awarded a $50,000 Alberta Innovation Voucher to begin this research.

Currently, most protein meal produced from oilseed crushing for food-grade vegetable oil is sold as a protein supplement for livestock feed. Large-scale livestock production is an energy and carbon intensive process, accountable for a significant percent of North American greenhouse gas emissions. As policies in Canada and the US begin to put a price on carbon through either cap and trade systems or carbon taxes, and as other nations put sanctions on GHG intensive imports, traditional livestock production methods and intensity may be forced to change. These foreseeable changes, combined with additional protein meal as a by-product of biodiesel production, will leave a glut of protein meal that has the potential to be converted to high value products.

BioStreet’s Vegreville Energy Project will produce 300,000 tonnes of canola meal and initial estimates indicate that revenues could increase by 50% to 100% if this new technology proves commercially viable.