Parkland has experimented with refining non-petroleum oils in the past, and this run saw their Burnaby facility produce 101,000 litres of jet fuel from mostly canola oil and animal tallow
Fuel producer and distributor Parkland Corp. has completed a test run of refining what it claims is Canada’s first batch of low-carbon jet fuel using non-petroleum oils at its Burnaby facility, the company said Tuesday.
Parkland used the Burnaby refinery’s existing equipment to produce a batch of 101,000 litres of low-carbon jet fuel using “non-food-grade canola oil” and animal tallow. The experimental fuel was purchased by Air Canada, company senior vice-president Ferio Pugliese said in a news release.
The volume is equivalent to the fuel capacity of almost four new Boeing 737 planes, or just over half the fuel capacity of one of the extended-range intercontinental Boeing 777s in Air Canada’s fleet.
“Parkland is thrilled to demonstrate its leadership and proven expertise at the Burnaby refinery by becoming the first company to produce low-carbon aviation fuel in Canada,” Pugliese said in the news release.
For several years, the almost 90-year-old Burnaby refinery has experimented with co-processing, refining biofuels alongside crude oil to create fuels with what Parkland claims is one-eighth the carbon intensity of fossil fuels alone.
In 2022, Parkland launched a plan at the Burnaby refinery to expand its co-processing and build a stand-alone biodiesel line to produce the equivalent of 6,500 barrels per day of renewable diesel, but cancelled it a year later due to rising costs and a lack of market certainty.
On Tuesday, however, Pugliese said “with appropriate certification across the supply chain,” the low-carbon jet fuel it has produced could win classification as fully sustainable aviation fuel, which would be an advantage for airlines such as Air Canada.
“Currently, the Canadian airline industry is dependent on international imports of low-carbon fuels,” said Air Canada’s CEO Michael Rousseau. Parkland’s test, he added, is a “critical first step in creating domestic supply,” although the refiner didn’t announce immediate plans for expansion.
Pugliese said the test proves Parkland can make the low-carbon fuel, but “the next step is working with all levels of government to create a policy framework on a clear path forward.”
On Tuesday, B.C.’s newly installed Energy Minister Adrian Dix called Parkland “an outstanding partner and role model” in the province’s CleanBC plan.
In 2013, the province revised CleanBC’s requirements for biofuel contents of petroleum to include aviation in its low-carbon fuel standards starting in 2026. Under those rules, aviation fuel must hit a 10-per-cent reduction in carbon intensity by 2030.
Air Canada, in climate goals it announced in May, said it would spend $50 million by 2030 on sustainable aviation fuel and carbon-removal technologies to hit its midterm target of reducing carbon emissions by 20 per cent by that date.