Imperial Oil, the Canadian Petroleum Products Institute and Natural Resources Canada have issued a report on biodiesel performance and quality, preparing for—or delaying—the implementation of a possible federal Canadian blend mandate. The study was not endorsed by the Canadian Renewable Fuels Association and information suggests the research focused on issues to which the answers are already known.
A source close to the CRFA indicated that this study, led by an oil company under Canada’s National Renewable Diesel Demonstration Initiative, was basically a delay tactic meant to inhibit the implementation of a biodiesel mandate and work toward the adoption of a B100 quality spec that would be the most stringent in the world. In addition, the source said that biodiesel is often blamed for the “shortcomings of ultra-low sulfur diesel.”
The key “technical outcomes” of the research were that long-term furnace performance was “negligibly impacted by fuel up to B10, that mono-glycerides had a “deleterious impact” on the low temperature operability of filters in fuel handling systems and need to be limited, and that “long-term stability of renewable diesel fuel can be assured via the use of commercially available oxidation control additives.”
“We have complete confidence that biodiesel will more than satisfy the strongest doubters when it comes to technical feasibility when all the evidence has been collected," said Gordon Quaiattini, President of the CRFA. "It is important to remember that on-road performance was also questioned at one point and in the final report issued in 2009, those questions were put firmly to bed. By June, a further half dozen demonstration projects for off-road performance will have been completed. All feedback to date has been positive and we look forward to the mandate proceeding without delay.”
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