Introduction

The BISP was conceptualized by Kyoto Fuels Corp. and JK Trucking (A division of J. Koliaska Enterprises Ltd.) as a means to demonstrate to all Canadian the feasibility of biodiesel blend usage in Canada’s diverse climate. We would like to thank the Alberta government for their support of the BISP through the Biorefining Commercialization and Market Development Program.

 

Additionally, Olds College is providing third party invigilation to the project to ensure data collection and interpretation meets with scientific standard, AGAT Laboratories Ltd. is providing unbiased, third party analytical services, EFG Solutions Inc. is providing the information technology for the project, Peoplenet Canada is providing a portion of the onboard intelligence that collects, saves and reports the project data and Cummins Western Canada provided hardware required to download the ECM data.

 

A biodiesel blend is a combination of petroleum diesel and biodiesel.   To date the JK Trucking fleet has used more than 500,000 litres of a B10 blend (10% biodiesel and 90% petroleum diesel) and by the end of the project, will have used up to 5 million litres of biodiesel blend. The blending process and technology is critical to maintaining the consistency of the fuel. The BISP employs injection blending technology; the same used by petroleum distributors to blend additives into diesel and gasoline. This injection blending process guarantees a consistent blend by injecting the biodiesel into the petroleum diesel creating a homogenous mixture of the two products.

 

JK Trucking’s fleet wide integration of biodiesel blends provides the means to track the use of biodiesel across the Canadian prairies and the Northwestern United States. The integration of biodiesel into the JK fleet has allowed for the collection of a truly unique set of data. The entire fleet is equipped with a Global Positioning System (“GPS”) tracking device connected to the engine’s Electronic Control Module (“ECM”). Information on engine performance is downloaded allowing for all aspects of the fleet’s performance to be monitored, analyzed and then invigilated by Olds College.

 

The GPS coordinates of each unit combined with Canadian weather station data are tracked on a daily basis to establish the range of travel and temperatures the fleet operates under. Additional monitoring of the fleet’s maintenance and tire pressures reduces the inter-fleet variability.

 

The variety and amount of data collected for biodiesel use has never been this in depth or precise, yielding a world class, one of a kind study. Through the BISP, Canadians will have a better understanding of how biodiesel blends operate in the Canadian climate.