Systematic Risk Mitigation Methodology Applied to the Bioénergie La Tuque (BELT) Biofuels Biorefinery

Bioénergie La Tuque (BELT) is promoting the development of a 200 million liter per year biofuels plant to be built by 2023 in La Tuque. The plant will use residues from forest harvesting as feedstock, which will be a first at that scale for a second generation biomass biorefinery in Canada. However, this initiative will necessarily have risks, and it is essential that these be mitigated for a successful project, and to help convince investors to commit. Technology and market risk factors must be systematically identified, quantified, and risk mitigation strategies put in place. The residual risks should be evaluated and integrated into decision criteria, and considered for the final selection of the product-process strategy to be retained. In the systematic methodology to be employed, risk mitigation strategies will be incorporated in the definition of biorefinery process options, and techno-economic and sensitivity analyses will be performed. A workshop will be organized where stakeholders will assess risk-related and other criteria in order to identify the preferred product-process biorefinery options, i.e. those that are more likely to lead to a successful implementation of the BELT biorefinery.

Faculty Supervisor:

Paul Stuart

Student:

Partner:

BioÉnergie La Tuque

Discipline:

Engineering

Sector:

Professional, scientific and technical services

University:

École Polytechnique de Montréal

Program: