Canola biodiesel advocates are worried they are being ignored in the debate over renewable fuel.
They are also scared that negative press about ethanol will tar their industry with the same brush.
“From an environmental perspective, people need to realize (canola biodiesel) has a real advantage,” said Manitoba Canola Growers Association president Brian Chorney, a biodiesel promoter.
Biodiesel is made using a different process than ethanol and has fewer problems, he said. Comparatively little has to be done to vegetable oil such as canola to turn it into a fuel, which makes small-scale plants more feasible, he added.
Ethanol plants, on the other hand, must be bigger and use large amounts of energy to turn dry cereal grain into a form of alcohol that gasoline engines can use. On the other hand biodiesel is designed for diesel engines, which are less common than gasoline in North America.
