Summary

The Ontario BioCar Initiative represents a partnership between the automotive industry and the public sector, aimed at accelerating the use of biomass in automotive materials.

The research team from four Universities, University of Guelph, University of Toronto, University of Waterloo and University of Windsor, was granted $5.9M from the Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation, $5.9M matching Institutional funds and $5.9M from 12 private sector partners. Through this public and private sector research, we will establish a globally leading initiative to bring products from the field and forest to the highway. With the focus on the replacement of petroleum-based products by biochemicals and high content bio-fibre materials, the outcomes of research will have a significant positive effect on the profitability of Ontario farming, Ontario forestry, and create a sustainable, competitive edge for the Ontario automotive value chain.

The University of Guelph will focus on increasing profitability for farmers growing industrial crops while reducing the cost of the industrial feedstocks by accessing useful, existing genetic variation, and by working to develop sound agronomic practices for industrial crop production. This effort will be aimed at increasing the yield per acre of the biological component used by industry while maintaining satisfactory performance. Biological components will include analysis of the entire plant, including fibre, oil, carbohydrates and protein from all crops grown in Ontario hemp, wheat, corn, soybean and canola. Guelph will also work in collaboration with the University of Waterloo on the development of improved primary processing technologies including fibre harvesting, treatment and separation. The University of Waterloo will provide direct support to the germplasm development efforts at the University of Guelph through small scale sample characterization as well as focus on the development of methods for improved biochemical or bio-fibre manufacturing through the use of bio-catalysis and/or traditional chemistry. The University of Toronto will provide support to both efforts through larger scale testing, development of compounded resins, and in collaboration with the University of Waterloo research and development on nano and micro bio-fibre development. The nano- and micro-fibre development efforts will focus on forestry and agriculturally based sources of cellulose with an objective of developing self-assembly biological systems that are interact dynamically with synthetic polymers. The University of Windsor will provide final support to the entire initiative by developing improved methods for the fastening of bio-products to existing plastic and metal surfaces and by predicting the impact performance of bio-composites in assembled automobiles through ultra-sound analysis. We have established a complementary team across the relevant industry sectors with participation from farm commodity groups, a forester, primary bio-fibre processor, plastic resin manufacturers, auto parts manufacturers and a leading automotive assembler. The public and private sector teams will interact at each point on the product development chain thus ensuring the relevance of public sector discovery efforts, and ensuring the application of the results for the benefit of Ontario.

The Ontario BioCar Initiative represents a partnership between the automotive industry and the public sector aimed at accelerating the use of biomass in automotive materials.