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Green Biofuels Could Boost Canadian Agriculture, Economy and Environment
Would it surprise you to know that you can fuel a bus with soybeans or canola?
That’s exactly what’s happening with a fleet of buses in Montreal and the BioBus project in Saskatoon in west central Canada. Thanks to plant biotechnology, alternative biofuels and processes can be made more efficient and affordable to produce.
Biofuels — produced from renewable plant material — are proving to decrease harmful emissions while enabling the growth of local, environmentally friendly energy supplies. Ethanol, produced primarily from grains such as corn, or biodiesel, made from oilseeds such as soybean and canola oil, are two renewable fuels.
Canada currently produces about 750 million litres of ethanol each year, a number the federal government has committed to increasing significantly in the years ahead to deal with climate change challenges. Commercial production of biodiesel is relatively small, with output by three companies in Saskatchewan and Ontario.
Biofuels are just one additional market for crops that normally go for food or feed uses. Production costs and market prices will eventually determine end uses. However, as ethanol production increases, so will demand for grains. Last year alone ethanol production in Canada consumed over 17 million bushels of corn. In fact, ethanol is Ontario corn’s third largest market.
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) scientist Martin Reaney views canola biodiesel as one way to assist meeting the country's Kyoto Protocol commitments to reduce greenhouse gases while helping farmers and promoting rural development. This benefit will increase as more canola is produced using conservation tillage and biotech seed.
He points to the experiment in Saskatoon where two transit service buses will use a 5 percent blend of canola biodiesel while two other control buses will run with conventional fuel. Halfway through the project, the buses will be switched. Throughout the test period, each bus will be scientifically monitored, measured and evaluated for characteristics such as emissions, fuel economy and engine wear.
Initial research conducted by Barry Hertz, University of Saskatchewan and the AAFC Saskatchewan Research Centre, has found that each ton of renewable biodiesel fuel saves five times its weight in diesel fuel. As well, engines using biodiesel demonstrate wear rates as much as 50 percent lower than those using regular commercial fuels — effectively doubling engine life.
Biodiesel is environmentally friendly, quickly degrading into natural organic material. In fact, biodiesel degrades four times faster than petroleum diesel. The major challenge facing large-scale production and commercial use of biodiesel today is production costs that are three times that of petroleum diesel. Biotech research is underway to increase the oil content in canola and soybean crops that could make biodiesel production more efficient.
In the meantime, the use of biodiesel gained speed with the launch of the Montreal Biodiesel project in the spring of 2002, the largest municipal biodiesel project in North America. More than 140 buses, all running on different blends of biodiesel derived from animal rendering and U.S. soybeans, were converted. Fleets from government organizations such as Toronto Hydro and the city of Brampton, Ontario, are also climbing onboard the biodiesel wagon.
The future looks encouraging for biofuels production in Canada. Plant biotechnology companies are researching a corn with a higher starch content to accelerate the fermentation process used to make ethanol. Another avenue is to produce genetically-enhanced enzymes, yeasts and bacteria capable of producing ethanol from virtually any plant, tree or agricultural waste.
In the future, Martin Reaney points to the possibility of one hectare of wheat converting to a fuel that drives a vehicle for 7,000 kilometres. One hectare of canola could convert to biodiesel that fuels a vehicle for 14,000 kilometres.
With these kinds of statistics, it’s not surprising that governments such as Ontario’s recently introduced tax exemptions to boost biodiesel production from new companies such as BIOX Corporation.
For more information:
Canadian Renewable Fuels Association