Woods Group has begun an environmental assessment (EA) to build and operate a biodiesel facility in Englehart.

About 40 people attended a public gathering at the arena Wednesday evening to receive input on the proposed new facility. After a 15 minute presentation by Environmental Assessment Coordinator Peter Brown of Golder Associates questions from the floor were raised concerning physical location of the proposed facility and its noise, impact on water, odor, waste, involvement of the town, marketing of the end product, mode of transportation and jobs.

An environmental assessment is a systematic approach documenting all the possible environmental effects of a proposed project taking into consideration the effects of noise, odor, dust and emissions to water and land and other emissions on the community. All emissions from the operation of the facility would have to comply with Ontario Ministry of the Environment Protection Act regulations, Brown said.

The Englehart biodiesel facility will heat and refine feedstock (primarily seed oils) to create biodiesel. Pure biodiesel does not contain petroleum. Biodiesel can be blended with petroleum diesel and can be used in any diesel engine. It is considered a good alternative to petroleum diesel because it is biodegradable, non-toxic, is almost free of sulphur and aromatics and produces less carbon dioxide. The Englehart-based company chose a 20% blend rate because you don't have to make modifications to diesel engines, EBF manager Bryan Brown said. Studies have also shown that after 20 % the biodiesel begins to corrode rubber hoses. "If 20% of the fuel is biodiesel, Greenhouse gas emissions are reduced by 12-18%, whereas a 2 % blend only reduces emissions by 1-2%. The government has already man-dated a 2% blend rate on petroleum by the year 2009 and that will increase to a 10% blend rate by 2020, Boyd Woods said.

The medium sized facility plans to produce approximately 58 million litres (14 million gallons) of biodiesel per year. The Englehart Biodiesel Facility could be one of Canada's first biodiesel facilities to convert processed oils and fats into fuel. "Our biodiesel could be used as a cleaner alternative fuel to power vehicles such as trucks and buses," Boyd Woods said. "The price of the biodiesel fuel is being sold in Toronto right now at $1.10 a litre and is being used to run their buses," Woods said.

A facility of this size would cost approximately $8 million to build, Bryan Woods said. There are incentive programs through Natural Resources Canada to help offset some of this cost, he said, noting also that EBF has most of their funding in place.

Assuming the Englehart facility passes the EA, he said it will take about six months to order the equipment and have it delivered to the site and another three months to meet commissioning guarantees of the bio-diesel before full operations which he expects will begin sometime in the Fall.

"As long as everything is there we are certainly looking at doubling the size of the facility within a year after that," Bryan Woods said.

Another phase he said the company is hoping to go ahead with involves a crushing plant where we can take locally grown canola, soya bean or any crop producing an oil and have it scaled and farmers get paid right up and then crush and have our own feedstock on site.

"This will keep everything in the north whereas right now the company is looking at importing oil from southern Ontario," Woods said. Bio-Pro, a Guelph-based company for the next six years has agreed to supply all the waste oil EBF needs and has also indicated an interest in the end product. "We could also sell the finished oil product locally to farmers and even residential customers to burn in their furnaces," Woods said.

EBF owner Boyd Woods said this has been an exciting project on the go for the past seven years.

The Biodiesel fuel market has potential in the world, Canada and he believes it will be good for Englehart. The waterless technology of the facility means that EBF will not have to use municipal water (except for kitchen and bathroom) and that means there will be no discharge and waste.

In the first year EBF will produce approximately 20 million litres of biodiesel fuel and that will mean 12 to 15 new jobs for Englehart. Some of those jobs will require skilled and semiskilled labourers including chemists, technicians and plant supervisors.

By the time the plant reaches its capacity of producing 58 million litres within two to four years that could mean 40 to 50 jobs, Boyd Woods added.

The advantage to opening a biodiesel facility in Englehart is that there is a high supply of feedstock for the biodiesel and a higher per capita supply of seed oil because of the agricultural belt that runs through Englehart in a relatively low population, Brown said. "It is a highly feasible alternative to petroleum diesel," he said.

Boyd Woods said he has toured many biodiesel facilities in the States and found them to be very clean. "I didn't need to wear a mask or ear muffs and if there was an odor it was the smell of vegetable oil like in restaurants where French fries are fried," he said.

There will be a lab on site doing regular testing watching out for emission rates, turbidity levels and samples will be sent to independent labs to guarantee quality and standard, Boyd Woods said. Storage of the fuel should not be a concern, Bryan Woods said. We will store and contain the biodiesel in 16' wide by 30' high steel tanks inside an enclosed building. He also pointed out that the main mode of transportation of the product to and from the plant is going to be primarily by rail because it is more economically feasible and perhaps 2-3 truckloads per day. EBF is not a blending facility and there will be no petroleum on the site he said.

The facility would be located at the intersection of First Street and Fifth Avenue in Englehart. The site is currently owned by the Town of Englehart and is occupied by an abandoned sawmill that has been vacant since 1993.

"It was nice to see so many people that were interested and came out, excellent questions were asked of Boyd and the others and I think it is a good thing that is going to be happening for Englehart and we are looking forward to this proceeding," Englehart Mayor Nina Wallace said.

The biodiesel facility she said must pass all environmental concerns and it is a great deal for Englehart, she added.

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Supplied by the Climate Change Central's Climate Change and Energy Technologies News Digests.