By colin payne
Star Reporter

Jun 20 2007

 

A diesel fuel made from vegetable oil that’s better for your engine, made ready to use, and better for the environment is available to Golden residents who are interested.

Agri-Green Biodiesel, a company based out of Sparwood, a small town near Cranbrook, manufactures tested and standardized biodiesel that they deliver throughout the Columbia Valley.

When German engineer Rudolph Diesel first invented the engine that bears his surname in 1898, it was designed to run on peanut oil. It wasn’t until the 1920s, when petrolem was rapidly becoming a cheap and readily-available source of fuel, that people began fuelling diesel engines with petroleum diesel.

With so much industrial machinery, and mass-transit powered by diesel engines, biodiesel is emerging as a promising alternative fuel.

“In Europe they use about 4 billion litres a year and in the United States, they use about 400 million gallons (1.5 billion litres),” says Agri-Green Owner and President, Gary Tomlinson.

“One of the biggest advantages of biodiesel as an alternative fuel, as far as I’m concerned, is that it’s what I call a ‘plug-and-play’ fuel. You just make a conscious decision to pour it in your vehicle. You don’t need to convert your fuel system and you’re not fully committed to your fuel. So if you run out of biodiesel, you can just switch back to regular diesel.”

The advantages of using biodiesel don’t stop there.

“From an environmental standpoint, it’s incredibly clean,” Tomlinson says. “For every 526 litres you use, there’s a one tonne reduction in greenhouse gasses. Carbon dioxide emissions are reduced by 70 per cent.

“It has what we call an energy balance of three to one. So for every unit of energy that gets put in, you get three out. It beats ethanol and even petroleum, hands down. Both of those have a one to one ratio.”

But biodiesel has yet to take off as an alternative fuel in Canada. The Columbia Valley is one of a scant few places in British Columbia that biodiesel is available.

A large part of the lack of public outcry is a result of outdated information and antiquated attitudes that the public holds towards the fuel.

Whereas once it was more of an underground fuel, unregulated and often made by private individuals at home, it now involves a highly controlled and standardized manufacturing process.

The fuel that Tomlinson produces is made in accordance with the American Society of Testing and Materials (ASTM), and certified by the Canadian General Standards Board(CGSB).

“It’s no longer the hippie fuel, made in the backyard,” says Bruce Miller, a manager at Lake O’Hara Lodge in Yoho National Park. “It’s an engineered product. And it has a standard that needs to be met.”

Lake O’Hara Lodge has been using biodiesel at different mixtures in their vehicles for the past three years.

“The smell is way less and it’s a very different smell. It’s a sweeter smell, it’s not that choking diesel smell. The clouds of black smoke are non-existent once you get it (mixed) to a certain concentration.”

This year Miller will be running all three of the lodge’s vehicles on a 50/50 bio/petrodiesel mix.

“My engines run quieter on it because it’s got better lubricity,” he says. “With the ultra-low sulfur diesel (on the market) these days, most people are having to add additives anyhow to give it lubricity. The biodiesel has got it built in.

“We’ve had a few issues when it gets colder, but only on our bus because the fuel line is much longer. We rectified that this spring by putting a (fuel) heater on.

“We’ve already had minus two and minus three degree temperatures here this spring, without a hiccup.”

Scott Belton, the Golden and area representative for Agri-Green, recognizes that one of the major issues with biodiesel is its tendency to thicken up in cold temperatures.

But those problems are rapidly becoming a thing of the past.

“At a 20 per cent blend, you can use it all year,” Belton says. “I have an additive now, much like petrodiesel does, that brings the cloud point down to minus 40 in a 20 per cent blend. That’s comparable to an A-class diesel in the winter.”

Last year, as part of a pilot-project with the provincial government, Belton provided the Town of Golden with 1,000 litres of biodiesel to try out in its vehicles.

Town of Golden Foreman of Public Works, Dave Poland notes he had no problems with the fuel.

“Performance wise, I didn’t notice any difference,” he says. “It actually cleaned up the smoke in one of our loaders. The exhaust seemed to get a little cleaner.

“It just wasn’t user-friendly for us,” he says, noting the fuel had to be kept in a large tank and then be transferred by pails into the truck.

Belton has offered to have his 2,000 litre delivery truck filled with pre-mixed biodiesel and left on the town works facility, where drivers can easily fill their vehicles.

He hasn’t yet heard from Town of Golden Manager of Operations, Chris Radford, who was out of town and unavailable for comment.

So far Belton hasn’t had a good response to his efforts to promote biodiesel to the general public in Golden, he says.

“The responses that I’ve been hearing around here have all been really negative. It seems to be the typical response to anything progressive in Golden. ‘Don’t bother us. We don’t want to change’.”

He does note it’s been hard to make the fuel available to the public.

“Delivery is an issue,” he says. “As it stands right now, the infrastructure isn’t in place to make it as simple as going to a pump and sticking the nozzle in your car.

“The people who want it have to have an impetus to go out and get it.”

Belton is currently trying to set up a system whereby biodiesel will be available for purchase in 20 litre containers.

“I’m trying to get an outlet to supply the containers,” he says. “You would pay a deposit on the first purchase and then bring back the empty. So all you pay is the fuel price. I have a special stackable plastic receptacle.”

The fuel would cost $1 per litre, with a $10 deposit on the first container.

Belton has had a difficult time setting this up because of restrictions placed upon local fuel merchants by their parent petroleum companies.

“None of the fuel companies are allowed to get involved because they have a mandate from the petroleum interests,” he says. “People have to show interest before things can change. It’s tough to drop $100,000 and not have anything happen. There has to be an indication.”

The theme amongst those involved with biodiesel seems to be the need for interest from the general public, and a desire to make change for the better.

Tomlinson puts it best:

“It’s really difficult to get people to take action sometimes,” he says. “They just want to do the safe thing they’ve done all along. It’s tough. It takes effort. But nobody ever said cleaning up the world was going to be cheaper or easier.”

If you would like more information about Agri-Green Biodiesel, visit their website at www.agri-greenbiodiesel.com or call 250-425-0777..