Evaluation of Forestry Residues as Feedstocks for HydroCarbon Replacement Liquids

ADVANCE CONTRACT AWARD NOTICE (ACAN) 1. Definition An Advance Contract Award Notice (ACAN) allows departments and agencies to post a notice, for no less than fifteen (15) calendar days, indicating to the supplier community that it intends to award a good, service or construction contract to a pre-identified contractor. If no other supplier submits, on or before the closing date, a Statement of Capabilities that meets the requirements set out in the ACAN, the competitive requirements of the government's contracting policy have been met. Following notification to suppliers not successful in demonstrating that their Statement of Capabilities meets the requirements set out in the ACAN, the contract may then be awarded using the Treasury Board's electronic bidding authorities. If other potential suppliers submit Statement of Capabilities during the fifteen calendar day posting period, and meet the requirements set out in the ACAN, the department or agency must proceed to a full tendering process on either the government's electronic tendering service or through traditional means, in order to award the contract. 2. Definition of Requirements Objectives: The overall objective of this requirement is to design heterogeneous catalysts for deoxygenation of pyrolysis bio-oils under mild reaction conditions. The project will involve the design and development of a novel catalytic material with dual functionality for the purposes of upgrading bio-oil vapors to phenolics and aromatics. The objectives can be summarized as follows: -evaluate the most promising feedstocks that provide the best chances of successful conversion to target chemicals (aromatics, phenolics). -fine tune the process conditions to optimize the conversion and selectivity. - generate proof-of-concept data for future expansion of this project. Scope of work: The current requirement aims at purposes of upgrading bio-oil vapors to phenolics and aromatics through the development of proprietary dual functionality catalysts. To achieve this, a multi- step pyrolysis process will be directly coupled to an online catalytic reactor. The reason behind employing multi-step pyrolytic fractionation is to control the devolatilization of the biomass feedstocks and to selectively upgrade vapors using a dual functional catalyst in order to improve the overall quality & purity of each of the condensable liquid fractions. More specifically, this particular multi-step pyrolysis process is designed to remove much of the light oxygenates generated at low temperatures around 400 C (acetic acid, water, acetol, acetaldehyde) and sugar derived components (furfurals, levoglucosan, pyrans, etc.) in the first pyrolysis stage, and to catalytically transform the concentrated lignin derived vapor streams arising at 500 – 600 C to high purity phenolics (cresol, catechol, resorsinol, vanillin, guaiocols) and aromatics (benzene, toulene, xylene) in the second stage. The contractor work on improving the efficiency and performance of the catalyst design, development and deployment components of the project. The catalysts will be synthesized by the contractor and evaluated at CanmetENERGY facilities. Contractor staff will occasionally travel to CanmetENERGY locations to provide specific technical support (with catalyst evaluation) on the project. CanmetENERGY-Ottawa will employ liquefaction and hydrothermal treatment equipment to generate bio-oil fractions for further upgrading and will procure feedstock materials from suitable industrial partners. CanmetENERGY-Devon, which boosts a specialized advanced hydrocarbon characterization program and associated analytical capabilities, will evaluate the product distribution of conventional pyrolysis and compare the same with the proposed multi-step pyrolysis coupled to catalytic upgrading over the devised catalysts. Feedback on the catalyst performance would be provided to AITF. Deliverable The deliverable will be a final report that identifies work performed in the design and optimization of heterogeneous catalysts for deoxygenation of pyrolysis bio-oils and outlines results achieved. 3. Trade Agreements Trade Agreements are not applicable. 4. Contract Period The period of the contract will be from the date of contract award to March 31, 2016 5. Estimated Cost Total cost of contract is estimate to be $40,000.00 6. Exception to the Government Contracts Regulations and applicable trade agreements In accordance with the Government Contract Regulations (GCR) exception, Part 1, Section 6, (d) only one firm is capable of performing the contract. The following elements are mandatory for the required work: Development and ownership of a novel catalyst with dual functionality capability for the purposes of upgrading bio-oil vapors to both phenolics and aromatics. The proposed Contractor is the only organisation that possesses the above combined elements. The proposed Contractor has developed and owns a proprietary catalyst which meets the major requirement of dual functionality in upgrading pyrolysis oil vapours. 7. Name and Address of the Proposed Contractor Alberta Innovates - Technology Futures PO Bag 4000, Hwy 16A & 75 Street. Vegreville, AB T9C 1T4 8. Inquiries on Submission of Statement of Capabilities "Suppliers who consider themselves fully qualified and available to provide the services/goods described herein, may submit a Statement of Capabilities in writing, preferably by e-mail, to the contact person identified in this Notice on or before the closing date and time of this Notice. The Statement of Capabilities must clearly demonstrate how the supplier meets the advertised requirements." 9. The closing date and time for accepting Statements of Capabilities January 29, 2016 at 2:00 P.M. Eastern Standard Time (EST). Contract Authority Lucie Lepage Natural Resources Canada Contracting Officer 580 Booth Street, room 5-D5-5 Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0E4 Fax: 613-947-5477 E-mail: lucie.lepage@canada.ca