While many western Canadians were contemplating a hastily arranged winter getaway last week, at least one person was reveling in a cold snap that saw temperatures dip below -40 C in places.
“This is a fantastic week, to be honest,” said John Rilett.
“We’re dealing with temperatures here where it really doesn’t ever get much colder than this anywhere in Canada, other than the far Arctic.”
No, he’s not suffering from cabin fever. Rilett is co-ordinating a real-world demonstration of the cold weather performance of canola-based biodiesel blends and last week’s conditions provided a superb test.
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He is the director of Climate Change Central, a non-profit group that manages pilot projects investigating ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Their latest initiative is the Alberta Renewable Diesel Demonstration, which has received funding from the Alberta and Canadian governments, the Canola Council of Canada, Canadian Petroleum Products Institute, Canadian Renewable Fuels Association, Canadian Bioenergy, Neste Oil and Milligan BioTech.
The federal government has announced plans to implement a two percent biodiesel mandate by 2012, but the mandate depends on the successful demonstration of biodiesel under a range of Canadian conditions. It’s hoped this project will provide that proof.
The first part of the pilot was the lab-testing phase, where researchers compared the quality of biodiesel made from canola, soybean and tallow oils, including their cold weather capabilities.
“It essentially confirmed what we would have expected, that canola-based biodiesel has really some of the best cold weather attributes,” Rilett said.
The cloud point for soy biodiesel, which is the point where the fuel starts to gel from the cold like olive oil stored in a fridge, was only two to three degrees C less than its canola counterpart. It doesn’t sound like much, but it is a significant difference when trying to keep trucks on the road during the winter.
On Jan. 22, Climate Change Central launched the second phase of the demonstration project, a hands-on, cold weather experiment where a two percent canola biodiesel blend is used in 60 long-haul trucks driving around Alberta.
Rilett said the trucks are not receiving special treatment.
“We haven’t changed anything in terms of operation or maintenance. We’re not keeping them inside at night to make sure they stay warm. The fleets are essentially operating as they normally would.”
As of Jan. 29, which was in the middle of the cold snap that gripped the Prairies, he hadn’t heard of problems with the trucks running on the blended fuel.
Shell Canada is blending the fuel at its Sherwood terminal. Fueling stations are supplying the biodiesel blend in Calgary, Edmonton and Lloydminster.
An interim report will be issued shortly after the winter testing period ends on April 15. A final report will be issued in September after the summer testing period, in which researchers will be looking at a five percent biodiesel blend made from a combination of canola and tallow oils.
Rilett expects that canola biodiesel will meet the federal government’s requirements.
