Big equipment burning biodiesel

June 14, 2005

By Pat Brennan

DCN correspondent

You can’t blame construction workers at a new housing site just north of Toronto for constantly thinking about lunch.

After all, earthmovers and other heavy equipment on the site are running on recycled cooking oil and the exhaust smells vaguely like French fries.

Con-Drain, which is preparing the site at Bathurst Street and Rutherford Road, is the first large construction contractor in Canada to burn biodiesel fuel in its equipment.

“We have about 10 per cent of our machines, that’s about 30 big pieces, burning biodiesel fuel as a test. So far we’re very pleased with it,” said Romeo DeGasperis, vice-president at Con-Drain.

A Con-Drain earthmover is fuelled with biodiesel near Dufferin and Teston Road.

He said using biodiesel fuel “creates a healthier environment for our employees at that site and for the environment in general.

“We believe it is also going to reduce maintenance costs on our equipment too, but the most beneficial result is that the workers say the engine exhaust is less bothersome to them and that makes for a safer, more efficient workplace.”

Con-Drain started switching to biodiesel fuel in December.

“We didn’t need to make any changes to the engines or the fuel system, but with older machines we needed to change the filters more often because the biofuel is a cleansing solution and it peels old gunk off the inside of the fuel tanks.

“Eventually that cleaning feature gives you a healthier engine needing less maintenance,” said DeGasperis.

Con-Drain buys its fuel from Canada Clean Fuels, a Toronto firm that also supplies regular diesel fuel, which owner Lucio Angelucci calls dinosaur fuel. He calls his firm Canada’s first clean air oil company.

Angelucci buys his biodiesel from Rothsay Laurenco, a division of Maple Leaf Foods. Rothsay Laurenco collects 15 million pounds of meat scraps and used cooking oils each week from around Ontario for recycling. Much of it ends up as biodiesel fuel. Soybeans and vegetable oils are also converted to biodiesel fuel.

But Angelucci says 70 per cent of the Rothsay Laurenco biodiesel is shipped to Europe where it has been in use for more than 20 years.

Con-Drain is developing the area between Rutherford Road and Major Mackenzie Drive on the east side of Bathurst for 5,000 single-family homes. DeGasperis said he expects biodiesel will spread throughout Con-Drain’s entire equipment fleet, “but it depends on the availability of the fuel. We have projects that are further afield and it may not be financially feasible to truck the fuel that far to the equipment.”

As it is, the biodiesel fuel is running at one cent to three cents per litre higher than regular diesel.

The biodiesel used by Con-Drain is composed of 20 per cent vegetable oil and 80 per cent regular diesel. It’s called B20. In freezing temperatures the mixture can be reduced to five or 10 per cent vegetable oil for easier starting, but DeGasperis said they had no trouble starting their machines this past winter using B20.

Angelucci said he expects construction equipment will eventually be running on 100 per cent renewable energy.

Municipal governments have been leading the way in adapting to biodiesel fuels in their fleets.

He said Toronto Hydro was the first fleet owner to run vehicles on biodiesel nearly six years ago. Now municipal bus lines and city equipment in Brampton, Guelph, Richmond Hill, Barrie, Stratford, Markham and Toronto are running on biodiesel fuel.