On October 24th, a delegation led by Ms. Wan Zhu, Associate Director of Hunan Province Science and Technology Department visited C-CJCBERI at UBC. Other members of the delegation include Division Director of Hunan Province Science and Technology Department, professors from China Central South University and Hunan Agricultural University, and scientist from Hunan Institute of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Research.

A seminar meeting and lab tours were held to welcome the delegation. Our members Dr. Jim Lim, Dr. Anthony Lau, and Dr. Hui Li from Hunan Academy of Forestry who is visiting UBC attended the seminar. Dr. Yonghua Li from UBC spin-off company Highbury Energy Inc. and Dr. Wenli Duo from FPInnovations were also invited.

The goal of the visiting was to learn about C-CJCBERI’s research on biomass and bioenergy and experiences on technology demonstration and commercialization. Our members gave presentations on their recent work on biomass pretreatment, gasification, torrefaction, pelletization, as well as biogas production from agriculture wastes. Dr. Yonghua Li and Dr. Wenli Duo also talked about the projects in their companies and industry differences between Canada and China. The delegation mentioned that Hunan Province has similar geological characteristics with BC and is also rich in forestry resources. It is facing opportunities and challenges on biomass utilization and bioenergy production. And they hope to form long-term connections with researchers and experts from C-CJCBERI and BC. At the end of the seminar, the group planned to collaboratively apply for funding by Hunan Province in 2017.