Two biodiesel plants are set to open this summer in Manitoba.Bifrost Bio-blends, which is partly owned by canola growers in the Arborg area, has built a three million litre plant. It will use canola as its feedstock and is expected to be running in one or two months once technical hurdles are overcome.“We have a few equipment modifications that have to be made in the plant,” said project manager Roy Eyjolfson. “Then we should be, hopefully, operational by the middle of the summer.”The new plant overcame a major hurdle earlier this spring when it produced fuel that satisfied ASTM d6751, the international standard for biodiesel.Eastman Bio-Fuels, also a locally owned corporation that will use canola, has built a 10 million litre biodiesel plant in Beausejour.Robert Small, one of the owners, hopes it will be operational by the end of June.However, the plant hasn’t yet produced fuel that satisfies the ASTM standard, but Small, who owns Agri-Tel Grain in Beausejour, is confident that will happen soon.“With this industry, everybody is extremely conscious of quality,” he said. “The last thing we want to do is come out the door and stumble.”
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