About – Passenger Transportation

New Technologies (continued)

Biofuels

By 2010 all fuel sold at service station pumps must have an average five per cent biofuel content. Biodiesel is derived from animal fats, waste vegetable oils, and crops such as soybean, canola, corn and sunflowers. It is most often blended with conventional diesel fuel to reduce vehicle emissions.

Ethanol is manufactured from organic matter rich in sugars, starch or cellulose. The dominant feedstock for fuel ethanol production in North America is corn, but almost any material containing cellulose, starch or sugar can be used to produce ethanol with existing technology. It is most commonly mixed with gasoline to improve emission quality and enhance performance by increasing the octane level of the fuel.

According to Natural Resources Canada, Office of Energy Efficiency, all cars built since the 1970s are fully compatible with up to 10 per cent ethanol (E-10) in the fuel mixture. North American manufacturers approve the use of E-10 blends and warrant their vehicles for this fuel. In terms of vehicle performance and fuel consumption, low-level ethanol fuel blends are indistinguishable from gasoline. Ethanol is also blended with gasoline because of its high oxygen content and octane properties.

There are currently about 1,400 retail outlets in Canada selling ethanol-blended gasoline, with ethanol sales totaling about 245 million litres per year. As well, several Canadian government departments fuel their fleets with E85 – a blend of 85 per cent ethanol and 15 per cent gasoline.

Ethanol like other alcohols, is an effective solvent for many compounds. Therefore, deposits which have built up over time with conventional gasoline may break free after using ethanol-blended gasoline. Filters are installed at gas pumps and blenders to remove such impurities. However, car fuel filters may need to be changed after the first few tanks of ethanol-blended gasoline. The ethanol blend will then maintain a clean system.

On a life cycle basis, Natural Resources Canada reports that the use of a litre of E-10 fuel instead of a litre of ordinary gasoline can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by three to four per cent if ethanol is produced from grain, or six to eight percent if it is produced from cellulose.

Gasoline has been targeted as a major contributor to climate change. According to Environment Canada, vehicle transportation accounted for 25 per cent of Canadian greenhouse gas emissions in 2000. Because ethanol contains 35 per cent oxygen, adding it to gasoline results in more complete fuel combustion and a subsequent reduction in harmful tailpipe emissions. Natural Resources Canada’s CANMET Technology Centre estimates that replacing a litre gasoline with a litre of biomass ethanol reduces the accumulation of atmospheric carbon dioxide (a harmful greenhouse gas) by up to 70 per cent.