Bio-Industrial Opportunities Section – Programs and equipment

The Value-added Fractionation and Natural and Non-prescription Health Products (NNHP) Program helps to accelerate product development, optimization and commercialization by providing business development tools and technical services to emerging and established companies. A dedicated formulation lab enables clients to develop novel cosmetic, personal care and topical NNHPs while the BPIC facility is equipped with specialized equipment for extraction and purification on a pilot scale.

Our team can also provide training on specialized equipment and help companies navigate regulatory hurdles in the NNHP sector. We have a robust Quality Management system ensuring Good Manufacturing Practices are adhered to.

Table 1. Equipment – Value-added Fractionation and NNHP Program

Pilot scale wet processing

Since 2017, BPIC has operated with a Health Canada NNHP site licence and a 4,800 ft2 wet processing area that accommodates extraction and purification of a wide range of biomass including oilseeds, cereal grains, specialty crops, botanicals and biomass secondary process streams. Process equipment is available for purifying and concentrating crude botanical extracts, including a pilot scale spray dryer which can remove water at 20 to 60 litres per hour.

Table 2. Equipment – Pilot scale wet processing

Scale-up manufacturing suite

Table 3. Equipment – Scale-up manufacturing suite

Alberta Agriculture and Forestry’s Biomaterial Development and Characterization Program supports the commercialization of bio-based materials from agriculture and forestry biomass. The abundance of feedstock such as hemp, flax and cereal fibres, as well as forestry residues, presents an emerging opportunity for Alberta to develop the biomaterial sector. In addition, biomaterials can also be derived from agri-food processing side streams that are normally destined for the landfill and thus supports the agriculture value-added industry.

Table 4. Equipment – Biomaterial development and characterization

Food loss and waste (FLW) is a continuous challenge for the food and beverage processing sector. Losses and waste from inefficient process designs leads to increased costs in raw ingredients, packaging materials, energy and water consumption, labour and waste management. By-products from production also add to labour and waste disposal costs.

The Bio-Industrial Opportunities Section (BIOS) works closely with companies to understand the composition of their waste streams – both organic wastes and wastewater – in order to find opportunities to valorize them into value-added products rather than disposing them as wastes. Companies can become more competitive, save money by avoiding tipping fees for waste disposal and earn extra income by selling their value-added products made from waste streams.

Dedicated businesses that process organic wastes into value-added products are also becoming increasingly popular in Alberta. Biogas facilities that generate renewable natural gas or green electricity from organic wastes help to lower the carbon footprint of Canada’s energy mix. Diverting wastes from landfills to insect farms also helps prevent methane generation while creating valuable animal feed ingredients.

The BIOS has funded a number of case studies to help industry understand opportunities around food processing wastes. An important project is currently underway, examining government initiatives in other jurisdictions dealing with food loss and waste and wastewater, and whether these initiatives can be replicated in Alberta.