DECEMBER 2016 • COUNTRY LIFE IN BC


17


Village Farms investigates carbon capture for food production Pepping up exports


Clean carbon dioxide is in demand across food industry Stories by PETER MITHAM


DELTA – Since 2002, Village Farms International Inc. has tapped methane gas from the regional landfill in Delta to power a co-generation facility that yields heat for the 110 acres of greenhouses it operates right across the street, as well as electricity for BC Hydro.


But the quality of landfill gas is such that using the carbon dioxide the


combustion process releases hasn’t been a good idea. It’s difficult to make food-grade carbon dioxide from the boilers’ exhaust, so Village Farms has had no choice but to pump the gas into the air to the tune of 19,000 tonnes a year.


That’s the equivalent of the annual emissions from 4,000 vehicles, or burning 45,000 barrels of oil.


Now, a study funded by the Investment Agriculture Foundation of BC is looking at ways to take those


greenhouse gases and put them to use for Village Farms and other food producers around the Lower Mainland. “[Landfill gas] is very nasty in its components,” says Jonathan Bos, vice-president of asset development for Village Farms.


“The project was a world- wide lit[erature] review and feasibility study on various technologies that might be used to create a CO2 stream that might be safe for people and plants.”


Vancouver-based Hallbar Consulting Inc. undertook the study in partnership with the Swedish Institute of Agricultural and


Environmental Engineering and identified three potential options for recovering carbon dioxide from the exhaust. “We’ve shown there are


three legitimate options for making this work with two world-class companies,” Bos says. “This isn’t bleeding-edge technology; this is commercially available technology that can be brought to bear on our project.”


The options include scrubbing the gas before combustion, which would render it similar to conventional natural gas sources, or removing contaminants after


combustion. Then, the carbon dioxide would be collected and maintained in a gaseous state, or liquefied for storage and transport.


While heat is a constant necessity for climate control, plants don’t need carbon dioxide around the clock. This makes the storage element critical.


While capturing carbon dioxide as a gas is fine for on- site uses, he would prefer to see it cooled and liquefied so that other local food companies could use it. “The flexibility of storage with liquid is tremendous; it’s the most flexible,” he says. The project received in-kind support from gas distributor Air Liquide and the BC Food Processors Association to investigate the possibilities of liquefaction and alternative uses for the gas. The BC Greenhouse Growers’ Association also lent its support.


However, the big unknown is whether or not Village Farms will have continued access to landfill gases when its 20-year contract with the city and BC Hydro comes up for renewal in 2022.


“Without the actual supply of the gas, we don’t really have any potential to do an investment,” Bos says. “We would never be able to do


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BC greenhouse pepper growers saw markets expand earlier this fall with the start of exports to Japan. Windset Farms of Delta is one of three producers registered to ship peppers; the others are Westcoast Produce and Sun Select Produce Inc.


Shipments began on September 30, following an arduous 25-year battle to allay Japanese concerns regarding the risk of BC peppers bearing tobacco blue mould to the island country.


Citing studies from the late 19th century, Japan had argued against the importation of greenhouse-grown peppers from BC. Tobacco plants at the Windset farm and elsewhere were monitored for a quarter- century to prove that tobacco blue mould, while discovered in the similarly moist environment of Puget Sound, wasn’t a naturally occurring part of the local environment.


“We have proven to them through this process that it doesn’t exist in nature in BC,” says Linda Delli Santi, executive director of the BC Greenhouse Growers’ Association.


that without some sort of commitment, long-term, for the fuel.”


BC Hydro didn’t comment prior to deadline but Vancouver staff downplayed the fears.


“They’ve already got the infrastructure in place so it doesn’t make a lot of sense to


“Therefore, we are a pest-free zone.” But not all of Canada is. Growers outside BC’s Lower Mainland are still barred from sending greenhouse peppers to Japan. Growers within the Lower Mainland must also seek recertification each year to assure Japan that tobacco blue mould is absent. BC exported $90 million worth of fresh peppers in 2015, almost entirely to the US. The opening of Japanese markets could add $20 million a year to its export trade. The first shipment of peppers hit the shelves of a Costco store in Tokyo.


Peppers account for approximately a third of BC’s greenhouse vegetable production, which totals 124,000 tonnes annually. However, they’re the most lucrative crop, with sales of $72 million in 2014 – half the sector’s total receipts. Tomatoes, which account for 43% of greenhouse produce sales, have long been accepted in Japan. Delli Santi says the acceptance of peppers means that growers will now be able to send two products, making better use of shipping channels.


try and go down a different path,” Albert Shamess, the city’s director of waste management and resource recovery, says. “We’ll be in discussion with them closer to the time the contract ends.”


Village Farms currently uses about 60% of the


landfill’s methane, which Shamess says will continue to flow well into the future. “Over time, as more and more organics get diverted, there will be some reductions in gas generation, but we’re talking many years into the future,” he says. “There’s lots of supply for Village Farms.”


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