Canola Seen Gaining Ground as Biofuel during COVID-19

by Sean Pratt (Western Producer) A drop in used cooking oil supplies because of the pandemic’s effect on restaurants has opened a door for the oilseed -- COVID-19 is boosting the use of canola oil in the biofuel sector, says an industry official. That is because production of one of canola’s main competing feedstocks has been severely curtailed, said Ian Thomson, president of Advanced Biofuels Canada.

There is suddenly nowhere near as much used cooking oil on the market.

“With COVID and people not eating at restaurants the numbers have gone way down,” he said.

“You’re seeing more canola (oil), you’re seeing more corn oil.”

But corn oil is a byproduct of ethanol production and ethanol output is down in the United States, so there is not as much of that feedstock around either.

There have also been supply problems with another major feedstock. Animal fat production is down due to production disruptions in the meat packing industry.

Thomson hasn’t seen recent numbers about canola oil consumption by the renewable diesel sector but he strongly believes it is up.

“Anecdotally, what I am very much hearing is that the (used cooking oil) availability is down and that people are having to tap into more conventional feedstocks,” he said.

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The liquid fuels portion of Ottawa’s proposed Clean Fuel Standard is scheduled to be implemented in 2022.

Advanced Biofuels Canada will soon be releasing a study analyzing how the standard could impact the demand for agricultural commodities.

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The caveat is that obligated parties may decide to meet their CFS obligations by reducing upstream emissions in the oilsands or focusing on hydrogen-derived energy or electric cars.

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Thomson said HDRD tends to be made with used cooking oil and animal fats but supplies of those commodities is finite, so there is opportunity to include canola oil in the mix.

There is also opportunities to use canola oil in co-processing plants, aviation fuels and marine fuels.

“This is why I think clean fuels are a really bright light for canola,” he said. READ MORE

Covid restaurant shutdowns threaten oil refiners' biofuel dreams (Houston Chronicle)

Dining-Out Drought Means Less Food Grease to Fuel Biofuel Hopes (Bloomberg)