Canola-based biodiesel focus of industry conference July 17-18 in Calgary (June 15, 2006)

June 15, 2006: About 200 people from North America, Australia and Europe will meet next month in Calgary to talk about production, marketing and ultilization of canola-based biodiesel.


The conference - "Biodiesel: Powered by Canola. Fueling our Future" - is an initiative of the Canola Council of Canada and the Alberta Canola Producers Commission planned for July 17 – 18 at The Westin Calgary.


The event begins with a technical seminar, Biodiesel Tech, on Monday afternoon July 17. There’s a banquet Monday evening and a full day of sessions on Tuesday, July 18. Participants may register for a single session or the entire program.


Speakers are coming from around the world to discuss building a biodiesel industry - success stories from the EU and the US; perspectives from biodiesel users; western Canada's vision for biodiesel; biodiesel and environmental sustainability; biodiesel and the Canadian economy.


For program details, online registration and online hotel booking, go to www.canola-council.org/biodiesel/conference.html.


Also check out the BQ-9000 accreditation workshop set for July 19 at The Westin Calgary. BQ-9000 is a program of the US National Biodiesel Accreditation open to any biodiesel manufacturer, marketer or distributor of biodiesel and biodiesel blends in the United States and Canada.The program is a unique combination of the ASTM standard for biodiesel, ASTM D 6751, and a quality systems program that includes storage, sampling, testing, blending, shipping, distribution, and fuel management practices. Registration is separate from the biodiesel conference at www.bq-9000.org/.


Canola Council of Canada president Barb Isman says a domestic renewable fuels industry offers great potential to build a new and innovative value-added canola industry in Canada that would create jobs within rural communities, reduce Canada’s greenhouse gases by millions of tonnes and help improve primary producer incomes from the marketplace.



The canola industry strongly supports development of a “Made-in Canada” biofuel industry with five major components:

• a 2% biodiesel mandate within the 5% requirement for biofuels;
• parity with US incentives to improve investment into competitive, efficient processing facilities;
• strong bio-fuel quality standards;
• programs to encourage primary producer investment and ownership in bio-fuel value-added facilities;
• targeted support for research and development in the biofuel industry to continually strengthen the competitiveness and profitability of the industry.