BC Research. BC Research Inc. is a Canadian process technology incubator, specializing in R&D, chemical process development, clean technology innovation, and technology commercialization. BC Research Inc. (BCRI) is part of the NORAM Group, a vertically integrated group of companies under common Canadian ownership and located in the Vancouver, B.C area that specialize in the development, scale-up and full-scale commercialization of chemical processes.  The group provides a wide range of services from technical consulting to complete, turn-key chemical plants. We have a 35+ year track-record in taking novel technologies from the laboratory to the marketplace. Headquartered in downtown Vancouver, British Columbia, BC Research operates primarily from their "Technology Innovation and Commercialization Centre" on Mitchell Island in the Vancouver suburb of Richmond, BC.

Technology Portfolio

BCRI focuses on the development of innovative chemical processes related to Clean Technology. Key areas of focus include:
 Concept development, design, fabrication, commissioning and operation of sophisticated pilot plants and demonstration plants.
 Hydrogen production and hydrogen purification.
 Electrochemical processes including electrolysis and electrodialysis.
 Thermochemical processes including pyrolysis, gasification, reforming, and combustion.
 Water treatment.
 Bioproducts and green chemistry processes.
 Carbon capture and storage.
 Mineral processing.
 Clean fuels and hydrocarbon processing.
 Lithium processing and production of lithium hydroxide.
 Multiphase flow reactors, catalytic reactors, gas–liquid contactors.
 Process design, process and equipment modelling, and chemical process engineering.
BCRI has an extensive Intellectual Property portfolio of international patents and can work with partners to develop new technologies in a collaborative fashion.

Current Facilities

BCRI's Technology Innovation and Commercialization Centre has a  facility that containss a pilot plant development and operations area with 30 ft (9.2m) vertical clearance, wet laboratory space, state-of-the-art analytical chemistry equipment, engineering and design office space, as well as a machine shop and fenced outdoor piloting space. Technologies are scaled up from concept to pilot or demonstration scale in preparation for commercialization.

Industries Served
As part of the NORAM Group, BC Research works in the advancement of process and equipment technologies, in mature industries such as mononitrobenzene production, sulfuric acid manufacture, pulp and paper industry, green chemistry, water treatment, mineral processing, and environmental industry.

BCRI executes projects worldwide and works in close collaboration with other NORAM Group companies including: NORAM Engineering and Constructors Ltd, NORAM Electrolysis Systems Inc. (NESI), NORAM International AB, Axton Inc, and ECOfluid Inc.

Analytical Capabilities

 Chromatography: HPLC (High-Performance Liquid Chromatography), GCMS (Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry), GCFID (Gas Chromatography-Flame Ionization Detector), HPIC (High-Performance Ion Chromatography).
 Spectroscopy: ICP-MS (Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry), FAAS (Flame Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy), UV/VIS (Ultraviolet/Visible Spectroscopy), FTIR (Fourier-Transform Infrared Spectroscopy).
 Thermal Analyzers: TGA (Thermogravimetric Analysis), DSC (Differential Scanning Calorimetry).
 Surface Tension : Force tensiometer, SDT (Spinning Drop Tensiometer).
 Physical properties: Rheology, particle analysis, density, high-speed cameras and sound velocity, laser PIV (Particle Image Velocimetry), and many others.
 Autotitration, portable gas analyzers.
 Microscopy including Confocal Microscope and SEM-EDXS (Scanning Electron Microscope with Energy-Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy).

History

Previously, BC Research occupied a scientific research and development company located at the BC Research and Innovation Complex at the south end of the University of British Columbia campus close to the TRIUMF particle accelerator centre. This facility closed in November 2007. The company specialized in consulting and applied research and development in the area of plant biotechnology and environment, health and safety, process and analysis, transportation and ship dynamics.

The company can be traced back to 1944 as it developed from the non-profit BC Research Council to a private company in 1993, founded by Dr. Hugh Wynne-Edwards, Ph.D, DSc., FRSC, a member of the Order of Canada, who served as the founding Chief Executive Officer and developed the facility into an incubator in the fields of biotechnology, drug discovery and alternative fuel technologies.

In 2000, part of BC Research was purchased by Immune Network Ltd and was sold to Cromedica (now PRA International) in July 2001. Its plant biotechnology team was mostly spun off in Silvagen Inc. which specialized in clonal reforestation and which became a part of CellFor. In 1999 Azure Dynamics, a hybrid commercial vehicle systems developer, was formed with some of the transportation team and left the facility in 2004 having gone public in 2001 as Azure Dynamics Corporation. Radient Technologies, specializing in microwave-assisted cannabis extraction, purification and isolation, was also spun off in 2001 as a joint venture with Environment Canada. The remaining laboratory and consulting business functions continued under the name Vizon SciTec until August 2006 when CANTEST Ltd. announced its acquisition from BC Research Inc. which continues as a privately held technology holding company.

Relaunch as Part of the NORAM Group of Companies

BC Research Inc. is now a wholly owned subsidiary of the NORAM group, a private, vertically integrated portfolio of businesses serving process scale-up, engineering, R&D, pilot plants, demonstration plants, modular plants, custom fabrication, and site assistance. In 2010, BC Research Inc. (BCRI), opened again for business in Burnaby, B.C under the NORAM Group of Companies.  The Company continued to provide specialized consulting and applied research and development in an expanding number of different technologies and  industries, including fluidized beds, storage of energy in batteries, fuel cells, electrochemical cells, corrosion testing and analysis, hydrogen, sulfur, chlorine, nitration, water treatment, and pulp and paper chemistry.

In 2017, moved to a newly constructed Technology Innovation and Commercialization Center on Mitchell Island in Richmond, BC to expand their capabilities. This current facility is described in detail above.

References

External links 
BC Research Inc. - BCRI
BC Research facilities video
NORAM Group of Companies and NORAM Engineering
NORAM Electrolysis Systems Inc. - NESI
Axton Inc
NORAM International AB
ECOfluid
Hugh Wynne-Edwards http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/vancouversun/obituary.aspx?pid=165088497
Encyclopedia of British Columbia, Edited by Daniel Francis, Harbour Publishing 2000

Research institutes in Canada
Companies based in Vancouver
Canadian companies established in 2010