Techno-Economic Assessments of Thermochemical Conversion of Biomass to Liquid Transport Fuels

ADVANCE CONTRACT AWARD NOTICE  (ACAN) 
1.	Definition

An Advance Contract Award Notice (ACAN) allows departments and agencies to post a notice, for no less than fifteen (15) calendar days, indicating to the supplier community that it intends to award a good, service or construction contract to a pre-identified contractor.  If no other supplier submits, on or before the closing date, a Statement of Capabilities that meets the requirements set out in the ACAN, the competitive requirements of the government's contracting policy have been met.  Following notification to suppliers not successful in demonstrating that their Statement of Capabilities meets the requirements set out in the ACAN, the contract may then be awarded using the Treasury Board's electronic bidding authorities.

If other potential suppliers submit Statement of Capabilities during the fifteen calendar day posting period, and meet the requirements set out in the ACAN, the department or agency must proceed to a full tendering process on either the government's electronic tendering service or through traditional means, in order to award the contract.

2.	Definition of Requirements

Background:

Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) has a requirement for the provision of specific technical and engineering services to support a Techno-economic Assessment of Thermochemical Conversion of Biomass to Liquid Transport Fuels project that is part of a United States, Finland, International Energy Agency – Bioenergy Agreement – Task 34: Pyrolysis and Canada collaboration on pyrolysis technology and pyrolysis oil upgrading.  This proposed effort will make use of technical results and economic data in two bioenergy technology areas – fast pyrolysis and hydrothermal liquefaction, to develop an updated report on comparative process costs in the current world situation.  The participation of the other groups in this project is critical to its completion.

Objectives:

The project will assess two processes to convert biomass to liquid hydrocarbon fuels;
- Biomass fast pyrolysis to produce bio-oil and upgrading of the bio-oil to gasoline and diesel via hydrotreating and hydrocracking
- Hydrothermal liquefaction of biomass to hydrocarbon fuels

Process flow sheets and simulations will be prepared for each process in order to provide detailed heat and material balance information

This project is part of a larger project with the United States, Finland and the IEA Bioenergy – Pyrolysis Task.  Canada’s involvement will include; the development of the overall parameters of the assessments; reviewing and commenting on the process flow-sheets; sizing equipment based on process heat and material balances and; obtaining equipment cost information for estimating the process plant costs.

Expected Deliverables

The basis of the current study will be to re-investigate earlier work on techno-economic assessment that was carried out again as part of an International Energy Agency (IEA) Biomass Agreement activity. New R, D & D development as well as new analytical and computational capabilities have occurred since the last report prepared in the 90’s and this information needs to be incorporated to present an up to date report on the status of pyrolysis technology. Additionally, new operating and economic information on pyrolysis processes is now available. The expected deliverable will be a report that updates the previous IEA work by incorporating new technical information and analytical capabilities.

3.	Trade Agreements

No trade agreements apply to this requirement.

4.	Title to Intellectual property 

This procurement action will not result in the development of any intellectual property.

5.	Contract Period

The period of the contract will be from the date of contract award to March 31, 2015.

6.	Estimated Cost

	It is estimated that the anticipated cost of this requirement shall be in the amount of $48,590.00 CAD, including HST.

7.	Exception to the Government Contracts Regulations and applicable trade agreements

	Part 1, Section 6 (d) of the Government Contract Regulations states:  “Only one firm/person is able to provide the services”.

The proposed Contractor is the unique organisation that meets all of the mandatories outlined below:

1)	The Contractor must be an industry company with a minimum 10 years experience in the fast pyrolysis of biomass and hydrothermal liquefaction areas.
2)	The Contractor must have experience in the design of a number of fast pyrolysis and hydrothermnal liquefaction technologies.
3)	The Contractor must have previous experience working with the International Energy Agency Bioenergy pyrolysis group and extensive knowledge of results and methodologies of previous IEA pyrolysis techno-economic assessment reports.  

Zeton Inc. also possesses a unique resource with the following criteria which is also required to work on the services:

1)	Expert knowledge of engineering design and pyrolysis and hydrothermal liquefaction technologies with a minimum of 10 years working experience in the field.

There are no other Contractors who can perform this work. 

This project is part of a larger project with the United States, Finland and the IEA Bioenergy – Pyrolysis Task on pyrolysis technology.  This proposed effort will make use of available technical results and economic data in the two leading technology areas – fast pyrolysis and hydrothermal liquefaction, to develop comparative process costs in the current world situation.  Canada’s involvement will include; the development of the overall parameters of the assessments; reviewing and commenting on the process flow-sheets; sizing equipment based on process heat and material balances and; obtaining equipment cost information for estimating the process plant costs.

The Contractor needs to have extensive experience and expertise in all of these areas.  Additionally, the technical contribution needs to be an unbiased evaluation from a company that has no financial links to a specific company or that is developing a pyrolysis technology. Zeton meets these requirements. 

Canada has been requested to provide technical and economic data on the pyrolysis and liquefaction plants and their associated costs. Zeton has experience in this area as a result of its work in the design and fabrication of pilot and demonstration scale plants for Canadian and international pyrolysis and liquefaction technology developers, such as Ensyn, Biomass Thermal Group, Gas Technology Institute, Shell India, Battelle Pacific Northwest Laboratory, National Renewable Energy Laboratory. Zeton also designs and builds hydrotreating and hydrocracking units for both conventional petroleum and bio-oil upgrading applications. No other has this required technical and economic data, nor could another company or entity access this.  This is the reason that Zeton has been asked to participate in the project and it has worked with a number of pyrolysis technology developers and is respected by all for its independent analysis.

The techno – economic evaluation is being performed by a number of technical groups in a number of countries, including the Technical Research Centre in Finland, the US Department of Energy National Renewable Energy Laboratory and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and other countries participating through the International Energy Agency – Bioenergy Agreement.  These research centres and others will be contributing significant amounts of technical and economic information that cannot be found anywhere else worldwide. If NRCan does not have the IEA Bioenergy, VTT – Finland, NREL & PNNL – USA involved in the project it will not proceed.  These organizations are performing the majority of the work to evaluate and update on pyrolysis technologies.  

8.	Name and Address of the Proposed Contractor

Zeton Inc. 
740 Oval Court 
Burlington, ON  L7L 6A9

9.	Inquiries on Submission of Statement of Capabilities
 

"Suppliers who consider themselves fully qualified and available to provide the services/goods described herein, may submit a Statement of Capabilities in writing, preferably by e-mail, to the contact person identified in this Notice on or before the closing date and time of this Notice.  The Statement of Capabilities must clearly demonstrate how the supplier meets the advertised requirements."

10.	Closing Date

Closing Date: June 27, 2014 
Closing Time: 2:00 PM EDT 

11.	Contract Authority

Purnima Kaul, Contracting Officer 
Procurement, Contracting & Assets Management Services 
Natural Resources Canada 
Finance and Procurement Branch
580 Booth Street, 5th Floor  
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0E4 
E-Mail: pkaul@nrcan.gc.ca