Terra Tech. is pioneering the future by integrating the best of the natural world with technology to create sustainable renewable solutions for food production, indoor cultivation, and agricultural research and development. The future of farming is both indoor and vertical in highly productive and controlled environments. This new era of farming technology is needed to feed our worlds population while at the same time reducing our carbon footprint, generating higher yields and producing a higher quality more nutritious product.

At Terra Tech our vision is simple: To help transform, through innovation, the way we feed the global population through methods that are both sustainable as well as environmentally friendly.

Reduction of GHG emissions: heating Saint-Malo

Saint-Malo Heating has produced steam for several clients in the industrial park of the same name for many years in Quebec. For 90 years, the boilers were fueled by various types of fossil fuels: coal, oil and natural gas. They will shortly be supplied with wood powder, using a very promising new method to retrieve the waste timber.

Saint-Malo Heating (CSM), the producer and distributor of steam for the industrial park Saint-Malo, was recently sold by its former owner, Claude L'Heureux, who operated the facility since 1985.

Two forest engineers in the region of Quebec, Jean-François Côté and André Proulx, joined Mohammed (Simo) Lakhmiri, a thermal specialist in the region of Montreal, to buy the company. The sale was completed early in 2012, but it took time to perform the environmental studies on the site.

Parallel to the steps taken to purchase the assets of the company, the new owners have taken steps to find funding for their new technology. The Quebec government is also giving them financial assistance of one million dollars. Quebec City is also interested in the project (see box).

Photo with caption:
CSM President, Jean-François Côté, strongly believes in the potential of the KDS processor and energy production from wood powder.

With this funding, MSC will implement a process that converts waste biomass into wood powder, which can be used as is or converted into pellets for combustion in furnaces. CSM will also acquire a press pellet burner and a hybrid burner (wood powder and natural gas), which can both adapt to standard boiler fuel.
A letter of agreement has been signed with a large retail chain to sell the entire production of granules.

According to the company, the potential for reducing emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG) from this project and the deployment of its technologies elsewhere in Quebec by 2022 will be 100,000 tons of CO2, which is the equivalent of the annual emissions of 30,000 automobiles.

"Producing energy cheaper and cleaner is obviously at the heart of the mission of CSM," says Jean-François Côté, president of the company.

CSM produces and distributes energy to industries and neighboring buildings through a network of steam about 1.5 km. Jean-François Côté confirms its intentions to expand the customer base, especially with two hospitals in the Saint-Sacrement and the Green City, situated between the two (see photo above customer).


Dry biomass

MM. Proulx has been interested in the enhancement of forest biomass for several years. Burning sawmill residues (bark, sawdust, shavings) has long been used to feed the boilers for the wood dryers.

Converting biomass into green chips then producing heat energy to power a turbine in a cogeneration process is also known in the paper industry.

When facilities operate at full capacity, MSC will require approximately 15,000 tons of green biomass. The ecocentres of the Quebec City area will be provided with CRD (construction, renovation and demolition) debris of every type.

This debris is then sorted by a subcontractor who own separate biomass, such as wood pallets, and biomass where you can find contaminants such as paint and adhesives. Powder from the clean material used for the production of granules, while the other feed boilers CSM.


Unique process

The patented Kinetic Disintegration System (KDS) Micronex is owned by First American Scientific Corporation (FASC) based in Vancouver. KDS technology was developed in a laboratory of Hydro-Québec says Côté.

At the time, we wanted to turn the mill sludge into fertilizer, but the system did not work because of too much moisture content in the product.

The KDS processor allows water to disintegrate all forms of biomass. Water is separated from the biomass as it is shredded by the four blades rotating at 1750 rpm. The biomass is ground and the moisture content is reduced to 10%.

Photo with caption:
Outside of customers already served in the Saint-Malo industrial park, CSM also plans to supply the two hospitals in the Saint-Sacrement and Green City, situated between the two.

The processor measures 27 feet high, but it covers only 200 square feet. The system has low power consumption and low maintenance. It can dry any biomass for conversion into fertilizer. It is used in Malaysia to reduce to powder palm biomass which was used for the extraction of oil.

The interest of CSM is to create a technological showcase for the KDS process. The plants are large enough for CSM to provide an opportunity to researchers from Université Laval, FP Innovations and other laboratories to conduct various experimental work, including the use of other types of residues to produce the energy.

"The manufacturer FASC has delivered between 35 and 50 KDS processors around the world, but it is impossible to see one in action, explains Jean-François Côté. We believe very strongly in the potential of this technology and we want to inspire others.

As is the case for CSM's main boiler, the next stations could be equipped with a hybrid burner that can burn wood dust and other types of fuel (natural gas or oil).

Price competition

Biomass supply and packaging accounts for approximately 70% of the cost of production of granules, says Côté. Transforming demolition scrap material is cheaper than using forest biomass. Energy production based on wood powder remains competitive despite the very low price of natural gas.

The supplier sorts biomass into two separate categories: that which is clean (bag grade 1) and that which is contaminated (bag grade 3). The KDS processor can also grind branches to produce the wood powder.

The current price of natural gas is at its lowest in North America. It costs twice as much in Europe and in Asia three times. "In the medium term, analysts predict that natural gas will become a commodity product whose price is the same everywhere in the world," says the entrepreneur.

The pellet burner could be used to feed power plants and provide power and heat for facilities in remote areas that will never be served by the gas network. Often, as seen in the remote villages of Nunavik, electricity is generated by power plants burning oil.

Annual general meeting
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
An annual general meeting (commonly abbreviated as AGM, also known as the annual meeting) is a meeting that official bodies, and associations involving the general public (including companies with shareholders), are often required by law (or the constitution, charter, by-laws etc. governing the body) to hold. An AGM is held every year to elect the board of directors and inform their members of previous and future activities. It is an opportunity for the shareholders and partners to receive copies of the company's accounts as well as reviewing fiscal information for the past year and asking any questions regarding the directions the business will take in the future.

Every state requires public companies incorporated within it to hold an annual general meeting of shareholders to elect the Board of Directors and transact other business that requires shareholder approval. Notice of the annual general meeting must be in writing and is subject to a minimum notice period that varies by state.[1] In 2007, the Securities and Exchange Commission voted to require all public companies to make their annual meeting materials available online. The final rules required compliance by large accelerated filers beginning on January 1, 2008, and by all other filers beginning on January 1, 2009. The "e-proxy" rules allow two methods for companies to deliver their proxy materials, the "notice only" option or the "full set" option. Under the notice only option, the company must post all of its proxy materials on a website, and send shareholders a notice that the materials are available online. This notice must be mailed at least 40 calendar days before the shareholder meeting.

How-ever we need a sales force that puts FASC and
its KDS first.

HOW TO CONTACT THERMIX

7400 Chemin St-Francois
Saint-Laurent, Quebec
H4T 1B8, CANADA.
Phone (514) 695-0681
Fax (514) 695-1513

Simo Lakhmiri
President and C.E.O.

7400 Chemin Saint-Francois
Saint-Laurent
Quebec
H4S 1B8
Canada

(514) 428-5818
(514) 428-0003