John McDougall on Accelerating Carbon Cycles Using Synthetic Biology

Digital Innovations in Oil and Gas with Geoffrey Cann

"Aviation fuel because it is a big amount of emissions, roughly 2% in actual measurement, but about three and a half percent in terms of impact. It's not likely to change because you need high density fuels, so batteries aren't going to work for long haul flights. And 90% of aviation is long haul flights."

In this episode, I’m in conversation with John McDougall, who is the CEO and founder of SynBioBlox Innovations, a company seeking to solve the global emissions problem by applying synthetic biology to the creation of sustainable aviation fuel. Imagine the ability to design, test, and then build, at scale, a biological microorganism that ingests a given feedstock and produces, at scale, a valuable compound. That’s the promise of SynBioBlox.

"The GHG that's being emitted and being thrown away essentially, is the opportunity to create value by turning it into products."

John McDougall is the founder and CEO of SynBioBlox Innovations Ltd. A fourth generation Albertan, he spent two decades as President of the Alberta and National Research Councils following leadership positions in real estate, engineering consulting, manufacturing, oil and gas and technology businesses. He is a former Chair of APEGA and Engineers Canada, the Edmonton Chamber of Commerce, and many other social and not-for-profit organizations.

"Rather than waiting for them to evolve on a hit or miss basis, with the tools that exist today, we can actually explicitly design them and make them."

He has been an appointed member on numerous agencies and advisory committees related to trade, education, innovation, engineering, economic development and employment at the local, provincial, federal and international level. The recipient of numerous awards and recognitions, he continues to support the community with his time and resources in education, voluntary and not-for profit agencies, advisory and philanthropic roles.

"If you really want to make a difference in greenhouse gases, if you're not looking at things that are a billion tons a year or more, you're not going to make a difference."

USEFUL LINKS

• LinkedIn profiles (personal, business):

• Personal: https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-mcdougall-049280124

• Business: https://www.linkedin.com/company/synbioblox

• Website:

• https://www.synbioblox.com/