Advanced Foods And Materials Canada, Blue Goose Biorefineries Inc., And Partners Complete Scale-up Stage In Biorefining Development Project

Online, April 19, 2013 (Newswire.com) - Advanced Foods and Materials (AFM) Canada and Blue Goose Biorefineries Inc. (BGB), are pleased to announce the successful scale-up of biorefining technology for the production of high value microcrystalline cellulose (MCC), cellulose nanocrystals (CNC), lignin, and green platform chemicals from flax and hemp straw.

In collaboration with the University of Saskatchewan's College of Agriculture and Bioresources Bioprocessing Pilot Plant, and POS Bio-Sciences, BGB's proprietary Renewable Residuals RefiningTM (R3TM) biorefining technology was successfully scaled up to process 100 kg of pulp in a reaction volume of 2500L to produce microcrystalline cellulose and cellulose nanocrystals of high purity, along with lignin and green platform chemicals as by-products.

Throughout this process, the technology has shown promising advantages over existing biorefining methods including cost, yield, environmental impact, and flexibility. Necessary process steps demonstrated include biomass preparation, dewatering and washing, reaction mixing and crystalline cellulose washing. The project also successfully demonstrated the spray drying of the cellulose crystals at POS Bio-Sciences.

The technological and economical results generated within this phase will develop parameters for larger reaction volumes and are a significant milestone toward validating the commercial capabilities of the biorefining process.

Investment in this $625,000 development project was partially provided by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada through the Agriculture Innovation Program - a $50-million initiative announced as part of Canada's Economic Action Plan.

About Advanced Foods and Materials Canada - Advanced Foods and Materials (AFM) Canada Inc. is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to transforming innovative food, health, and biomaterial research into commercial success. AFM enhances the innovation process by facilitating collaborations of knowledge, expertise, and investment among industry, universities, and governments. By providing a specialized range of services for research and development projects, they successfully contribute to the evolution of commercially viable, valued-added foods, health innovations, and biomaterials.

About Blue Goose Biorefineries - Blue Goose Biorefineries (BGB) Inc. is an early stage technology company in the field of biorefining of lignocellulosic biomass. BGB uses a unique, environmentally benign and patent pending nano-technology procedure for producing high value bioproducts from residual agricultural and forestry biomass resources. The technology is very diverse as it is suitable for a wide range of biomass sources from agriculture and forestry and generates many end products including high value cellulose, lignin and hemicellulose and their degradation products in the form of platform chemicals.