Facilities & Equipment

The Bioproducts Discovery and Development Centre (BDDC) is an extension of the Crop Science Building in the Department of Plant Agriculture at the University of Guelph. BDDC projects extend to neighbouring greenhouse and growth facilities at the Crop Science Growth Facility allowing the BDDC to run projects that span from production of biomass through to industrial processing of the end product.

State-of-the-Art Bioproducts Facilities

BDDC houses several state-of-the-art laboratories, each dedicated to research in the area of biobased materials. These include but are not limited to:

• A microscopy lab with an atomic force microscope and a polarized optical microscope, along with a microtome with cryo-chamber
• A characterization lab dedicated to testing the thermal and mechanical properties of biobased materials, as well as the barrier properties of films
  • TGA, DSC, DMA, UV-Vis & FTIR spectroscopy, universal testing machines (Instron), impact tester, and GPC, GC, density meter, melt flow index,
• A thermoset lab dedicated to the research of thermoset polymers
• A flammability testing lab, where the flammability of biobased materials is compared to their current industrial counterparts
• A biomass feedstock lab and material handling room where a variety of biomass and polymers are sorted and stored