This video was filmed during a one-day seminar series and tour of the Alberta Biomaterials Development Center (ABDC) Fibre Processing Facility at the Alberta Innovates Technology Futures building in Vegreville, AB.
The BCN participated in this event and attended seminars by Dr. Hamdy Khalil of Woodbridge Foam Corporation, Stefan Declerck of Van Dommele Engineering, Dr. Amar Mohanty of the University of Guelph Plan Agriculture & School of Engineering, Dr. Mohini Sain of the Centre for Biocomposites and Biomaterials Processing at the University of Toronto, and Mike Duckett of Hemptechnology.
Following a networking lunch consisting of delicious, locally-made perogies and sausage, we embarked on a guided tour of the fibre processing plant with Laura Mcilveen, Lead Research Engineer for the facility. Capacity of the plant is 1 tonne/hour with extensive options for feedstock and product fibre characteristics. Also included on the tour was the Crops Research area, where AITF’s Dr. Jan Slaski described several initiatives going on at the centre including the development of strategies for improving fibre yields from hemp, and the Waste Utilization unit, where AITF’s Dr. Sunguo Wang showed off the facilities infrastructure for producing pyrolysis oil and biochar from a variety of feedstocks. Visit the ABDC’s website for more information on the facility.