Canadian Members visited 9 Chinese Institutions during Workshop

Before and after the workshop, the 8 UBC members visited 9 Chinese universities and institutions, those are: Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences – Institute of Process Engineering, Beijing Forestry University, Tsinghua University, China University of Agriculture, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Hunan Academy of Forestry, Chinese Academy of Sciences – Guangzhou Institute of Energy Conversion, and South China University of Technology – State Key Laboratory of Pulp and Paper Engineering. Our members and the hosts networked and learnt about each others’ research areas, recent projects, and latest progress, etc. They also discussed on upcoming collaborations, including joint research proposals, joint student supervision, student and scholar exchange, etc. The UBC members also toured many labs, demonstration projects, and local industries. Together with the successful completion of the annual workshop, our Centre is ready for more activities down the road.

Below is Dr. Naoko Ellis, Dr. Anthony Lau, Dr. Jim Lim, Dr. Kevin Smith, and Dr. Paul Watkinson visiting Institute of Process Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Below is Dr. Xiaotao Bi and Dr. Heather Trajano visiting Beijing Forestry University

Below is Dr. Xiaotao Bi, Dr. Naoko Ellis, Dr. Mark Johnson, Dr. Anthony Lau, Dr. Jim Lim, Dr. Kevin Smith, Dr. Heather Trajano, and Dr. Paul Watkinson visiting Tsinghua University

Below is Dr. Xiaotao Bi, Dr. Anthony Lau, and Dr. Jim Lim visiting China Agriculture University

Below is Dr. Naoko Ellis visiting Huazhong University of Science and Technology and Optics Valley Bluefire New Energy Co.

Below is Dr. Mark Johnson and Dr. Anthony Lau visiting Hunan Academy of Forestry, National Camellia Oil R&D Center, and Sanmu Energy Ltd.

Below is Dr. Naoko Ellis, Dr. Kevin Smith, and Dr. Heather Trajano visiting Guangzhou Institute of Energy Conversion, Chinese Academy of Sciences

First Annual Workshop Successfully Held

See more photos of the workshop...

The first annual workshop of C-CJCBERI has been successfully held on May 9th 2016 at BUCT. There were over 40 attendees including current members, other professors and researchers from UBC, BUCT, Chinese Agriculture University, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences – Institute of Process Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences – Guangzhou Institute of Energy Conversion, Hunan Academy of Forestry, Beijing Forestry University, and Zhejiang University. Guests mainly included Mr. Dehua Jiang, Director, Division of Americas and Oceania, Department of International Cooperation, China Ministry of Science and Technology; Ms. Alice Niu, Director, International Trade and Investment Office, Representing the Government of British Columbia in North China & East China; and Mr. Michael Weedon, Executive Director, BC Bioenergy Network. Here is the full program of the workshop.

On the morning of May 9th, Director Tan welcomed the attendees and guests and delivered a speech on the trend of bioenergy development in China and the promising future of C-CJCBERI. Director Bi talked about the progress of C-CJCBERI in the past months and the overall plan for the next steps. Mr. Dehua Jiang gave a talk on the strategic importance of bioenergy for China as well as other countries. He mentioned that C-CJCBERI will be included into the Canada-China Joint Science and Technology Action Plan 2016-2018. Mr. Weedon introduced BC Bioenergy Network and expressed the interest in collaboration through C-CJCBERI. Dr. Donald Smith, Scientific Director and CEO of BioFuelNet Canada, gave a remote talk to introduce BioFuelNet Canada including its background, research areas, and current projects.

The attendees conducted group discussions on detailed development plan for C-CJCBERI. Topics included: 1) Development goal and vision for the Centre; 2) Potential research topics and projects for collaboration; 3) Interest, suggestion, and collaboration model for joint funding application; 4) Interest, collaboration model, and timeline for student exchange and co-supervision. The groups then joint together to exchange the outcomes and finalized an Action Plan for the next year.

In the afternoon, the Canadian professors delivered presentations on their research interests and progress. Audience included over 80 undergraduate and graduate students from BUCT in addition to the workshop attendees. This session was followed by a guided lab tour in BUCT that covered several research groups on bioenergy related fields. On the morning of May 10th, seven professors and graduate students from BUCT presented their research to the UBC members. Part of the speakers and UBC professors had a seminar afterwards to learn more about each other’s work and discover collaboration opportunities.

The Canadian professors visited several universities and institutions in the following days in groups or individually. Those included Chinese Academy of Sciences – Institute of Process Engineering, Beijing Forestry University, Tsinghua University, China Agriculture University, Chinese Academy of Sciences – Guangzhou Institute of Energy Conversion, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Hunan Academy of Forestry, and State Key Laboratory of Pulp and Paper Engineering - South China University of Technology. These visiting and meetings engaged over 50 Chinese professors and researchers in total. Meaningful connections have been established and future collaborations will be facilitated soon.

Successful completion of the first annual workshop is a solid step that leads towards the next stages of the development of C-CJCBERI.

Director Xiaotao Bi attended the 6th Canada-China Joint Committee meeting in Ottawa

Our Director Dr. Xiaotao Bi was invited by the Science, Technology and Innovation Division of Global Affairs Canada to attend the 6th meeting of the Canada-China Joint Committee (CCJC) on Science Technology and Innovation Cooperation held in Ottawa on February 24th and 25th.

Since the Agreement for Scientific and Technological Cooperation between the Government of Canada and the Government of the People's Republic of China signed in January 2007, Canada and China have been regularly holding meetings on science and technology. There are almost 40 government sectors and over 130 representatives from both countries attending the meeting this year which is the highest numbers ever since. During the meeting, Canada and China signed a Joint Declaration on Clean Technology Cooperation (between Natural Resources Canada, Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada and the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology), a Letter of Intent to re-launch the Canadian International Innovation Program (between the National Research Council-Industrial Research Assistance Program and the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology), as well as a Statement for the Canada-China Joint Science and Technology Action Plan 2016-2018.

Dr. Bi presented C-CJCBERI in the Clean Technology session of the meeting. He introduced the background of our Centre, updated with our progresses, and presented our goals and future plans. He also had a meeting with Mr. Jianing Cai, Counselor of Department of International Coorperation, China Ministry of Science and Technology. It is commonly acknowledged and mutually agreed that bioenergy as a renewable energy has high potential to replace fossil fuels and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Both countries will attach great importance to the development and utilization of bioenergy.

The mission of C-CJCBERI is well in line with the objectives declared in the Joint Declaration on Clean Technology Cooperation. Following the signing of the Statement for the Canada-China Joint Science and Technology Action Plan 2016-2018, next step is to formalize the various initiatives to be included in the 2016-2018 Action Plan. C-CJCBERI will stay connected and further seek supports and involvement with the Action Plan.

First Annual Workshop in May 2016 in Beijing

We are glad to announce that the first annual workshop of C-CJCBERI will be held on May 9th, 2016 at Beijing University of Chemical Technology. The goal of this workshop is to finalize detailed collaboration plans, identify collaboration areas and projects, understand market trend in bioenergy field in the two countries and globally, and sign MOUs on joint PhD program and student exchange program.

This one-day workshop will be hosted by Beijing University of Chemical Technology. The attendees include faculty members from both countries, guests from governments and funding agencies, and students and scholars in bioenergy field. After the workshop, the faculty members from Canada will visit some of the Chinese partner institutes. They will learn more about the development of bioenergy field in China, and connect with the specific Chinese partners that have mutual research interests.

If you need more information about the workshop or want to attend the event, please email us at info@ccjcberi.center or call +1-604-822-6967.

Director Xiaotao Bi visited Hunan Academy of Forestry, China

On Nov 23rd to 25th, Dr. Xiaotao Bi visited Hunan Academy of Forestry (HAF) in Changsha, Hunan, China. He attended meetings on the plan of opening a branch of C-CJCBERI in Hunan and delivered an academic lecture. He was accompanied by the Party Secretary of HAF, Mr. Guosheng Zhou, to visit the national forestry demonstration park of HAF Experiment Forest, Hunan National Forest Economy Demonstration Base, Hunan Predators Breeding Center, the National Engineering Technology Research Center for Camellia, and the National Demonstration Base for Integration of Forestry and Oil.

In the meetings, Dr. Bi introduced the background and vision of C-CJCBERI. The Director of HAF, Dr. Changzhu Li, also a faculty member of C-CJCBERI, introduced the development of the HAF Bioenergy Innovation Group and shared ideas of developing C-CJCBERI's branch at HAF. They also discussed the goal and work plan of the branch with the researchers in bioenergy, bioligical engineering, and environmental engineering fields at HAF. The key research areas and objectives in the next three years were initially set. 

Dr. Bi also met with Crisitano Varotti, Italian representative in China for Le Marche government, Professor Xingzhong Yuan, Associate Head of the Department of Environmental Science and Engineering at Hunan University, Professr Lijuan Jiang from China Central South University of Forestry and Technology, and Yannan Hou, Director of Afforestation Sector of Department of Forestry in Hunan Province. 

Dr. Bi was appointed (5-year term) as the Academic Committee Associate Director of the Hunan National-Local Joint Engineering Lab for Energy Plant High-efficient Conversion, China National Development and Reform Commission. He was invited to give a talk on "Microwave-assisted catalytic pyrolysis of switchgrass for improving bio-oil and biochar properties", which over 40 researchers and graduate students from HAF, Hunan University, and China Central South University of Forestry and Technology attended with great interest. His visit strengthened the partnership on bioenergy between China and Canada. 

C-CJCBERI Announced Opening

View fullsize

View fullsize

The opening of the China-Canada Joint Centre for BioEnergy Research & Innovation (C-C JCBERI) collaboration was announced at the 5th International Conference on Biorefinery (www.icbb2015.org).
The Centre will provide a platform to foster bioenergy technology development, maturation, demonstration and commercialization in both Canada and China through collaboration.
The C-C JCBERI is hosted by UBC in Canada and Beijing University of Chemical Technology (BUCT) in China. In addition to research institutions, partners include companies, not-for-profit organizations and stakeholders in the bioenergy sector in both countries. The collaboration involves more than 40 faculty members from UBC, BUCT, and 8 other Chinese institutions. The Directors of the new Centre are Dr. Xiaotao Bi of UBC’s Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering and Dr. Tianwei Tan, the President of BUCT.

Canadian Partners
• University of British Columbia
• MITACS

Chinese Partners
• Beijing University of Chemical Technology (National R&D Centre for Biorefinery)
• Chinese Academy of Sciences – Guangzhou Institute for Energy Conversion (National R&D Centre for Liquid Biofuels)
• China University of Agriculture (National R&D Centre for Non-Food Biomass)
• Chinese Academy of Sciences -Institute of Process Engineering (State Key Laboratory of Biochemical Engineering)
• Huazhong University of Science & Technology (State Key Laboratory for Coal Combustion)
• East China University of Science & Technology
• Tianjin University
• Hunan Academy of Forestry
• Nanjing Technical University