Canadian Biomass Magazine

Air Canada to introduce biofuel at Toronto-Pearson Airport

April 20, 2018
By Canadian Manufacturing.com Staff

April 20, 2018 - Air Canada says it will save 160 tonnes of carbon on 22 domestic flights this Earth Day through an innovative biofuel demonstration project at Toronto-Pearson Airport.


Under the project, co-ordinated by Canada’s Biojet Supply Chain Initiative (CBSCI), Air Canada is a leading partner, introducing 230,000 litres of sustainable biofuel blended into the airport’s multi-user fuel supply system to show the feasibility of biofuel use in shared fueling systems Canadian airports.

One Airbus A320, the commercial passenger twin-engine plane operated most by Air Canada, has a fuel capacity of about 24,000 litres to 27,000 litres,

“Air Canada is proud of its leading role in this biofuel project, the first of its kind in Canada, which will advance the use of low-carbon renewable fuels in Canada by demonstrating they can be used in shared fuel systems at airports. Our participation is one way Air Canada is reducing its footprint and also helping our entire industry improve its environmental performance,” said Calin Rovinescu, president and CEO of Air Canada.

Although biojet has been consumed in Canada in the past, all previous projects have required dedicated tanker trucks directly fueling aircraft.

Advertisement

This project at Toronto Pearson is the first to blend biojet into the existing multi-user, co-mingled airport fuel supply system, thereby highlighting its feasibility and improving process efficiency. Carbon savings from the biofuel blended into the Toronto Pearson system will be accredited to Air Canada domestic flights from Toronto on Earth Day, effectively making those flights less carbon intensive.

The plan is part of CBSCI, a three-year collaborative project between 14 stakeholder organizations working to enable a biojet supply chain in Canada. Primary funding for the project, apart from the fuel purchase by Air Canada, comes from the Green Aviation Research and Development Network (GARDN), a non-profit organization funded by the Canadian aerospace industry and Canada’s federal Network of Centres of Excellence.


Print this page

Advertisement

Stories continue below


Related