Bioenergy Systems

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What is bioenergy?

Biomass is organic material originating from plant and animal sources. It comes from a diverse range of resources, such as agricultural crops and trees, forestry and wood residues, feed and crop residues, processing by-products, algae, and energy crops. Biomass is a versatile renewable energy source when produced, harvested and utilized in a sustainable way. Biomass is only considered a renewable resource when its rate of regeneration exceeds the rate of consumption. Organic materials embedded in geological formations and/or fossilized are not considered biomass.

Biomass materials can be converted to several useful energy forms: thermal energy (heat), electrical power and fuels. Renewable biomass fuels are chemically similar to fossil fuels and are used in a similar way.

Biomass fuels can be in solid, liquid, or gas forms. Solid biofuels are widely used - examples include firewood, manufactured fire logs, wood pellets, and wood chips. Liquid biofuels are mostly used in the transportation sector and the two most common types of liquid biofuels in use today are bioethanol and biodiesel. Common examples of gaseous biofuels include biogas and renewable natural gas.

Bioenergy in Canada

Space and water heating

Historically, the use of wood has been important in Canada for space and water heating, as well as for cooking. It is still important today, as wood, mainly firewood and wood pellets, was the third largest energy source for residential space heating at 9% in 2020. Every year, over 80 petajoules of energy from wood are consumed in the residential sector.

In recent years, biomass heat has been gaining popularity in remote and rural communities, as well as in commercial and institutional buildings in Canada.

Industrial heat and power

Currently, biomass is the fifth largest source of Canada’s electricity generation; in 2022, 9,127 gigawatt-hours of electricity using biomass were generated, which accounted for 1.4% of total electricity generation. Globally, Canada ranked 12th in the world for electricity production using bioenergy in 2020.

In Canada, the pulp and paper industry is the largest producer and user of bioenergy. Wood waste and pulping liquid are the most common biomass types used to produce electricity and steam. In 2021, there were 38 operational co-generation units at pulp and paper mills, and there were 35 Independent Power Providers (IPP) using biomass to generate electricity in Canada. Most of the biomass-fired capacity is found in provinces with substantial forestry activities: British Columbia, Ontario, Quebec, Alberta and New Brunswick.

Biofuels

Biofuels are a growing form of bioenergy in Canada. Solid biofuels make up the majority (80%) of bioenergy in Canada, however, their share of the bioenergy mix has been slowly declining while other types of biofuels have begun to grow. The most commonly used solid biofuels are hogfuel and bark and are mainly used in industry, yet this share is steadily decreasing with the contraction of the pulp and paper sector. In 2021, Canada was the second largest exporter of wood pellets, accounting for 11% of global trade. The majority of Canadian pellets are exported to the UK (40%), Japan (35%), South Korea (8%) and the United States (6%). Spurred by a growing global pellet market, Canadian pellet producers have more than doubled their production capacities from 2 million tonnes in 2014 to over 5 million tonnes in 2021.

Two main liquid biofuel types produced in Canada are ethanol (a gasoline substitute) and biodiesel (a diesel substitute). Ethanol is produced primarily from corn, wheat or barley. Biodiesel is produced primarily from vegetable oils, non-edible waste greases, and animal fats. In 2020, Canada contributed about 1% of the world’s production capacity of liquid biofuels, ranking 8th globally.

Considering the large amount of natural gas in the total energy supply in Canada, the current share of gaseous biofuels is modest. Biogas, which is a methane-rich gas, similar to natural gas, can be produced from livestock manure, crop residue, source-separated organic materials from residences and commercial businesses, landfills and biosolids from wastewater treatment. In 2020, biogas was used to produce renewable natural gas (6 petajoules), electricity (196 megawatts) and biogas (260 million cubic meters) for direct use in Canada.

Learn more about biofuels.