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Air Canada, CBSCI biofuel project to utilize Montréal-Trudeau

Previous Air Canada biofuel flights used biojet that was segregated from regular jet fuel and loaded separately into an aircraft via tanker truck. By contrast, CBSCI’s objective is to start developing a more efficient operational framework that will introduce biojet into a multi-user, co-mingled airport fuel supply system.

“We are pleased that this important initiative will be held at Montréal-Trudeau Airport,” said Teresa Ehman, Director – Environmental Affairs at Air Canada. “Air Canada has invested billions of dollars in fleet renewal to reduce our fuel consumption and meet our current emission reduction goals. Biojet holds the potential to be an important part of our strategy for achieving our longer-term industry goals of carbon neutral growth from 2020 and a 50 per cent reduction in emissions by 2050, relative to 2005 levels. The CBSCI project will contribute significantly to advancing a biojet supply chain in Canada by facilitating the logistics involved in the introduction of biojet to an airport’s shared fuel system.”

“This initiative is consistent with Aéroports de Montréal’s (ADM) efforts to reduce GHG emissions. We are proud that Air Canada has chosen Montréal–Trudeau for this project. Let’s hope that this will be just the start of a strong short- and medium-term partnership to ensure the project’s success,” said ADM President and Chief Executive Officer James Cherry.

The CBSCI project is a first in Canada and is aimed at creating a sustainable Canadian supply chain of biojet using renewable feedstocks. Canada has abundant agricultural and forestry biomass resources, with globally recognized sustainable production and harvesting practices. The biojet used in this project will be sourced from commercially available, certifiably sustainable Canadian oleochemical feedstocks using the Hydroprocessed Esters and a Fatty Acids (HEFA) conversion process. The biojet will be blended with petroleum jet fuel to meet all technical quality specifications before being introduced into a shared fuel tank at Montreal-Trudeau Airport. Air Canada is expecting to introduce approximately 400,000 litres of blended biofuel. The CBSCI project will also identify and help solve supply logistic barriers that arise when aviation biofuels are introduced at major Canadian airports.

CBSCI includes a strong research component with the participation of Queen’s University, University of Toronto, and McGill University, who will be assisting in modelling feedstock availability, identifying and addressing barriers to biojet adoption in co-mingled fuel systems and implementing the IATA Sustainability Meta Standard.