REGINA — Biodiesel may do more harm than good in new, low-polluting truck engines and the Canadian Trucking Alliance wants to make sure any governments thinking of legislating the boutique fuel get their facts straight first.

“The impact of biodiesel on post-2002 truck engines, the fuel’s widespread availability and its benefits versus the gains already made by the trucking industry when it comes to cleaner burning engines and fuels should all be examined more closely before governments opt to make biodiesel mandatory for trucks in Canada,” CTA VP of Economic and Environmental Affairs Stephen Laskowski told a working group on renewable fuels in Saskatchewan.

CTA was one of many interests, including vehicle manufacturers, agricultural producers and environmental groups, invited to present their recommendations and comments regarding a National Strategy for Renewable Fuels. On the topic of biodiesel, CTA presented a series of questions that the Alliance said must be answered before any mandatory biodiesel blend is brought into Canada.

CTA says trucking is a long way off before it
can support wide-scale biodiesel

“The trucking industry has recently undergone a series of dramatic expenses to virtually eliminate smog causing emissions from truck engines and fuels. What does biodiesel provide the industry that the current regulatory path does not already achieve?” asked Laskowski.

He said governments must first develop a firm understanding of the impacts of biodiesel on post-2002 engines and work with the industry to understand the impacts for the 2007 – 2010 engines before venturing down the regulatory path of mandating a biodiesel blend.

Regarding biodiesel quality, CTA pointed to recent misfueling incidents in Minnesota as an example of how the biodiesel producing industry must mature if the product is to gain widespread acceptance in the trucking industry.

In that city a biodiesel blend of B2 (2 percent biodiesel) was mandated, but supply and quality problems forced officials to suspend the rule temporarily.

When it comes to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by using biodiesel, CTA pointed out the trucking industry is already able to address the issue of greenhouse gas emissions with existing technologies, and asked OEMs to work with the trucking sector on finding ways to encourage their adoption.

“Governments could, for example, give weight exemptions for trucks with auxiliary heating and cooling systems, remove length penalties for trucks and tractors to improve aerodynamics (thus reducing fuel consumption), and explore the benefits of single wide-based tires (as opposed to friction producing duals),” the CTA said in a statement. “Any of these initiatives would immediately reduce GHG emissions, without necessitating the introduction of biodiesel blends.”