Large reserves of agricultural and forestry biomass resources, coupled with new made-in-Canada conversion technologies, provide a sound basis for the country’s emerging bio-economy. The recent opening of the country’s first nano-crystalline cellulose and biobased succinic acid plants indicate that biomaterials are destined to play a significant role in the Canadian bioproducts industry. 

• Canada has invested $2.2 billion over nine years to support the development of the country’s biofuel industry.
• Between 2003 and 2011, Canada registered an estimated 5,043 bio-product-related patents to the US Patent and Trademark Office.
• Preliminary gross domestic expenditure on R&D in Canada in 2011 is $30 billion, one of the highest levels in the world.
• In accordance with federal regulations, Canada now blends an average of five percent ethanol into its gasolines. More than 30 ethanol and biodiesel plants already operate in Canada, with another eight at the proposal phase.
• Canada supports the industrial commercialization of technologies developed by its academic and research organizations through several partnership programs.
• In January 2012, CelluForce opened a $36 million plant in Windsor, Quebec, to extract nanomaterial from dried wood fibre. Applications for the new material range from cosmetics and textiles to aerospace components and construction materials.
• US-based Rentech will build a state-of-the-art facility to produce the only type of alternative jet fuel certified for use in commercial aviation today.