The Bioenergy Research Demonstration Facility (BRDF) is burning biomass once again! The Energy & Water Services Thermal Operations Team re-lit the biomass gasification system on November 10, 2021, and the BRDF is now producing renewable thermal energy for the Academic District Energy System (ADES). The re-lighting of the gasifier has been a long-awaited milestone as part of the BRDF expansion project. New members of the team got to experience first-hand a light-off for the very first time and are gaining experience of gradually bringing the gasification system online.
The team has also kept the Campus Energy Centre running, faithfully supplying thermal energy to the District Energy System while the BRDF has been under construction — especially during the winter of 2020-21. With the biomass gasification system fully online with the Campus Energy Centre, UBC has a total of 53 Megawatts of thermal energy for heating campus with an additional 12 Megawatts coming online soon once the BRDF expansion is completed.
The Bioenergy Research Demonstration Facility (also known as the Bioenergy Facility) produces renewable energy for UBC’s campus using wood waste biomass. This helps reduce UBC’s GHG emissions and supports research projects on innovative clean energy systems.
To learn more, please visit the Bioenergy Research Demonstration Facility webpage.